


Shattered Marvel

by XVDragon



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), Marvel, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors (2018), Ms. Marvel (Comics), Spider-Man (Cartoon 2017), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Spectacular Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers play Warframe, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, CH 5 is when Spider-Man arrives, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Depression, Domestic Avengers, F/M, Kamala and Peter start being a couple in chapter 11, Kamala cheat uses Mjolnir, Kamala needs a Hug, Loss of Parent(s), Manipulative Nick Fury, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha hates Warfame, New Family, Nick Fury is Not Amused, Nightmares, Overprotective Pepper Potts, Parent Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Avengers, Protective Bruce Banner, Protective Clint Barton, Protective Hulk (Marvel), Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Pepper Potts, Protective Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Steve is Kamala's mentor, Team as Family, Therapy, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Venom Harry, Venom Kamala, captain dad, one time oc villain for chapter 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 144,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26973232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XVDragon/pseuds/XVDragon
Summary: Only a few weeks after the final battle with the Inventor, Kamala's parents throw out her hero collection, claiming its a bad influence, Kamala runs away in protest and throws herself into her role of Ms. Marvel fulltime. Shorty after though,  mysteries people kidnap her parents as part of a 'test', only to kill them when the police arrive.Kamala breaks down and nearly kills the one sent to 'test' her and is quickly being called to turn herself in within three days...until her heroes the Avengers step in, but their aid comes at a price...her powers and status as hero until the threat has passed and she is seen as mentally sound again.Now Kamala struggles to regain what she has lost, all the while haunted in her dreams by the voices of her parents and a foe more powerful then Kamala can face in her current state...Ms. Marvel herself!
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Kamala Khan, Clint Barton & Kamala Khan, Kamala Khan & Natasha Romanov, Kamala Khan & Peter Parker, Kamala Khan & Steve Rogers, Kamala Khan & Thor, Kamala Khan & Tony Stark, Kamala Khan/Peter Parker, Nakia Bahadir & Kamala Khan
Comments: 58
Kudos: 33





	1. The Shattering

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think, hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 1 – The Shattering

“Why did they take everything?” Kamala sobbed to herself, using her pillow in place of one of her Avenger plushies. Still, like everything else in her hero collection she had built over the years, her parents had taken them while she was doing her daily patrol as Ms. Marvel.

When Kamala had come home to do her homework before dinner, her parents had tried to stop her saying they needed to talk, but the teen said she first wanted to leave her bag in her room despite their panicked expressions at hearing this.

Before either her Ammi or Abu could stop her, Kamala had opened her door to find every poster, action figure, comic book and any other merchandise gone. Things she had gathered since she was a small child, just gone without any reason or warning. They said they had been a bad influence and would talk once she had a chance to calm down.

Kamala’s parents had sad expressions when telling her all that, but that did little ease the pain from all those hours ago...pain that was turning into a rage at the betrayal! She did everything they asked to the best of her ability and while they had arguments and groundings lately because of the secret life she kept from them, they never once blamed it on her collection.

‘They just wanted a new way to punish me for not being a ‘good daughter’...well, if they can’t even talk to me anymore, then I’m leaving!’

-

Kamala waited until midnight before she made her move. The furious teenager had contacted her friend Bruno with the same notebook computer her parents stuck her with in place of the one she played World of Battle Craft. Bruno tried convincing Kamala running away was a bad idea, but Kamala wouldn’t remain in a home that made her feel like dirt.

Or at least she wouldn’t once she could get out the blasted window!

“Of course, they now decide to put a lock on the window after a few dozen times I snuck out while being grounded!” Kamala said through gritted teeth as she was squeezing under the window by making her body as flat as possible using her powers.

“Good thing they did not count me being Ms. Marvel, or I would be in trouble...now how do I get my bag?” The super-powered teen muttered aloud as she pulled her foot free. It had been a tighter squeeze than she would have liked and thus, needed to leave the backpack inside due to needing too much focus to have her powers to affect it.

Kamala looked around for a solution, hoping for one that was not along of either leaving what possessions she had left behind or smashing the window. Then she saw the trash that had been left on the sidewalk, far more than what they usually left out for pickup.

“They didn’t...they wouldn’t...” they now very teary-eyed girl managed to weakly gasp out, scrambling to the curb, praying she was dead wrong about what she would find.

Sadly when she opened the garbage bags on the top of the pile, they were full of clothes, action figures and posters that shared the same theme. Now Kamala was seeing red and had the solution to her problem...and it involved throwing the trashcan at it with an enlarged hand once she was ready for her smash and grab.

By the time her parents’ room light came to life and calling out demands to know what was going on, Kamala was nowhere to be seen, thanks to just a few enormous strides of her elongated legs. Once she was far enough to hide, she changed to her Ms. Marvel attire; Kamala and her cargo headed straight for the meeting point she and Bruno agreed on.

A place not even police would think to look a runaway teenager, let alone her parents.

-

2 Weeks Later:

Bruno carrying bags of snacks and drinks in each hand, made his way to the ‘Hall of Marvel’ as Kamala dubbed the hideout in the sewers. It was the place the Inventor’s created his alligator army when his best friend became Ms. Marvel. The name had made Bruno groan, which of course made the stupid thing official just so the blue, red and yellow-clad heroine could laugh at his expense.

Coming down here had been part of his routine for the last two weeks, mainly so Kamala could get much-needed food without needing to do it as Ms. Marvel and draw more attention to herself than she already was.

Ever since she gained her ‘freedom,’ Kamala had channeled all her anger towards her parents into her work as Ms. Marvel. The young heroine went full time and was on patrol daily, with every robber, pickpocket and gang member feeling the effects.

“You here, Kamala?” Bruno called out, hoping the young Pakistani heroine was not out yet another patrol. Bruno knew Kamala needed tons of calories as Ms. Marvel back when she had a curfew and school to limit herself, but now she no longer had those safties to keep her in check.

His only response was a groan that came from someone waking up from a deep sleep. For most, that would be in the morning, but this at 6 pm, meaning Kamala had only been asleep for a couple of hours at best since he knew Ms. Marvel had been dealing with a bank robbery at 3 pm....and he knew she been doing an all-night patrol as well the previous day!

“Kamala!” Bruno yelled in a panic, knowing the odds his friend being near physical burnout had to be close given all the stuff she was doing the last few weeks, on top of her still trying to deal with her feeling towards her family were taxing her mentally.

As he entered former villain liar, Bruno discovered the sight of a large lump curled up in a sleeping bag. It was in a small and dry corner that Kamala had chosen to be her makeshift sleeping area for the foreseeable future.

“Sleeping...no noise...please.” a soft and tired voice from inside said sleeping bag replied, treating it like a caterpillar would treat a cocoon. This only confirmed Bruno’s suspicions and he knew this had to stop.

“Kamala, we need talk...now!” the now furious young man demanded, even going as far to give the small kick to what he hoped was her butt and not her head. It seemed softer than a head should be, but he was dealing with a girl with the power to alter her body’s size and shape, so the jury was out until Kamala’s head came out.

“Ow! Why did you do that?!” screamed the now very awake Kamala, her fists doubling in size out of reflex. The jury decreed the butt had been what he kicked.

Bruno noted the bags under his best friend’s eyes, the messy hair (that more likely due to running around nonstop rather than bed head) and that she did not bother to change out of her costume and mask. All signs said the hero was running herself ragged in hopes of not having to face her current problems.

“This is why!” Bruno shot back, putting half of the shopping bags down so he could pull the front page of today’s paper out of his pocket. The headline reading ‘Ms. Marvel’s War on Crime Continues’

Kamala stared at the piece of paper for the moment, then folded it up and before going back into her sleeping bag with the response of “Sleep now, read later.”

Kamala just got a more solid kick to the rear end than the last time...followed by him diving out of the way for a huge fist attached to a rapidly extending arm. The good news was Kamala tried doing this without sticking her head out this time, so it was a blind punch, making it was a sloppy attack.

“My butt is not a soccer ball!” The muffled voice of Kamala exclaimed, clearly hoping to be allowed to sleep.

“Maybe I should aim for that thick sk...you know what? Fine, go ahead and sleep! You’re on your own from now on!” Bruno roared out, clearly angry that fist that could hit with enough force to damage one of the Inventor’s giant robots thrown in his direction.

“Good, good-bye! Wait? What?” Kamala managed to so eloquently respond, trying to get to her feet before Bruno too far away. Sadly the only keeping here going was the sudden burst of adrenaline from Bruno’s kick to her rear and final comment, so she was stumbling over her own two feet.

Bruno had to use all willpower to keep going when he heard his best friend pleading for him to come back, knowing if he did, the anger that let him walk away would disappear. If Kamala was going to at least consider going back or at least slow her pace down this self-destructive path she was choosing, he needed to cut her off...for now at least.

That thing he heard was screaming out she was sorry, thinking it was only the punch that made him leave. Once she calmed down, he could only hope she pay more attention to the article he tossed at her and take the hint she was doing more to hurt him and herself than a single punch thrown in anger.

-

Two days later:

Kamala had finally done her first patrol since her fight with Bruno, but not because she had seen reason. Having a second fight with someone she loved had made her shut down to the point she got some proper sleep, but she was still too shaken internally to consider why they fought.

So she finished off the last food Bruno had left before the incident between them and fell back into the routine he had been worried about. Focus on anyone else’s problems while ignoring hers.

‘Maybe we can talk once we both have gotten a little time. Right now, Jersey needs Ms. Marvel...wait, what the heck?’ the young girl who had been internally planning to fix her relationship with Bruno. Until she noticed many posters along the length of the buildings and telephone poles, she did not remember seeing them during her previous patrols.

“Someone must be overkill promoting a concert or something,” Ms. Marvel mumbled, jumping down from the rooftop and then froze in her tracks when she got a good look at the picture on the poster closest to her. It had her face on it with the word ‘MISSING’ on the top and her family’s contact information on the bottom.

‘Who...did Abu and Ammi do this? Or maybe Aamir?’ Ms. Marvel wondered, doing a quick double-take on how many posters there were and was more likely the former and latter got drafted for the extra pair of hands.

The young superheroine was torn between leaving the posters alone or ripping at least a few down if for no other reason than to relieve the small bit of embarrassment this situation was causing her. Kamala’s parents always seemed to resort to the nuclear option in all matters...or at least ones that involved her.

“Hey, bad place to space out K-Ms. Marvel!” the familiar voice of Bruno called out, bringing a smile to the young Pakistani that her friend was coming to her, at least until she realized he had a panicked tone to his voice.

“Bruno, what’s wrong?” the confused teenager starting asking, only to be started pushed forward in an apparent gesture to get moving.

“Talk later, run now befo-“ was all the young man could get out before a new but still familiar male voice called out he had ‘found her Abu and Ammi.’

Ms. Marvel looked over to see Aamir running towards them and made her realize why her friend was trying to get her out of there so fast. But she had to ask quietly in a begging tone, “Please tell me you told them nothing.”

“Of course not, now get out of here fast!” Bruno whispered, clearly hurt his best friend had so little faith in him.

Ms. Marvel/Kamala’s face softened at this and mentally promised to double back after losing her family and apologize...for the growing list of things she was doing to him.

But as she nodded her head and stretched her legs several feet for the larger strides she would need for a quick escape, she felt a pair of arms wrap around one of the said legs.

“Oh no you don’t! We need to talk Mini Marvel!” Kamala’s older brother declared, clearly hoping holding onto the super teen’s enlarged ankle would somehow slow her down when she could get him to let go in any number of ways.

“That’s Ms. Marvel, not Mini Marvel! Now let go, I got a missing girl to find if those posters are any indication,” Ms. Marvel stated, shaking her leg like she was trying to get something off the bottom of her boot without touching it. The problem was the ‘thing’ was a stubborn older brother who probably thought she was the solution to his problems.

Her only response was a firm no, followed by her Abu and Ammi rushing around the corner Aamir used moments ago, her Ammi was holding a package in her arms as they ran. Her parents' sight made the masked teenager panic and just picked a random solution to get free of her brother’s death grip on her leg.

Ms. Marvel shank to the size of a littlest pet shop toy, which freed her leg but at the cost of being in a freefall since her legs caught up with her main body faster than it shrank. By extension, this meant by the time her tiny form was reaching the ground; her brother put himself into a position to catch her like she was a pop fly in a baseball game.

“Got you!” the older Pakistani exclaimed, looking triumphant until he felt a strange sensation inside his hands. It did not take him long to remember his ‘prisoner’ was more famous for her ability to get big...did not stop him from stumbling back in surprise as Ms. Marvel returned to normal size, her arms extended outward to force his hands apart.

“Don’t touch me!” The furious heroine screamed out, quickly stretching her arms towards a nearby streetlamp and getting out of reach. Simultaneously, everyone else present was still off-balance both physically and mentally from the display of her powers and the almost feral way she was acting.

“Aamir beta, finding her and manhandling her is not the same thing!” Ms. Marvel heard Abu lecture the younger male of the Khan family. Something that bought a smirk to the blue masked heroine’s face, her Abu could do that to someone else for a change.

“Please...Ms. Marvel...can you come down so we can talk? We need your help!” Ms. Marvel heard her Ammi begged from below her perch.

“Look, lady, I got the deets from the cute guy over there. I’ll keep an eye out for your daughter, but I’m not coming down if that is how I’m going to get treated by your son!” Ms. Marvel stated plainly, her eyes closed and rocking back and forth from her perching like she did not have a care in the world.

Muneeba eyes Bruno upon hearing him being called ‘cute’ but turned her attention back to Ms. Marvel and said, “I apologize for Aamir’s actions, but if you do find her, can you at least give her this? It might help her understand why we did what we did and you have the best chance of finding her right now!”

Ms. Marvel eyed the package, trying to figure out what it could be but figured she could humor her Ammi for at least a little while and once it had been a few days, drop the package off on the doorstep, saying she could not ‘find’ Kamala.

“Alright, but not sure why you think I can find her if the Jersey Police can’t,” Ms. Marvel called down before stretching her hand down to take the box from her mother and bring it back to her main body, she would not come down to within reach of anyone down there.

Without a word, Ms. Marvel leaped from one lamp post to another with her elongated legs until she got far enough away to jump to the rooftops again and look at the box. It was like people used for giving clothes to people as gifts. How could this explain why they took her collection a toss it in the trash?

Ms. Marvel found it tempting to open it to figure out maybe what her Ammi meant, but then heard an explosion in the direction of the bank, making the young heroine groan.

‘So much for finding out what is going on...I’ll leave this here to be safe and come back for it once I sort whatever that is out,’ Ms. Marvel thought as she placed the package down and headed off to stop whoever was causing that kind of chaos.

-

Ms. Marvel thought she had seen pretty much anything Jersey City could throw at her. But to find some masked guy with two large duffle bags and wearing a weird yellow quilted jumpsuit blowing away police cars with some energy/sound waves from the metal gauntlets on his wrists was a new one. Not as odd as the Inventor’s stuff, but still an eyesore nonetheless. Though somehow, she thought she recognized him from somewhere though.

“Hey fashion reject, what is with you ruining a perfectly good night for me?” the annoyed heroine demanded. Ms. Marvel then did a Spider-Man style web swing kick to both arrive onto the scene and slam her feet into her unknown opponent’s chest by using her stretchy arms in place of the webbing. The problem was, she got sent flying back upon making contact by some kind of barrier instead of the other way around.

“Arg....what the heck was that?” A confused Ms. Marvel grunted out, trying to figure out what just happened after she stopped skidding across the ground by her back colliding with a fire hydrant.

“This is the famous Ms. Marvel I have heard about? What, you so new to this hero thing your copying the Web Head’s moves?” the bank robber with the weird shockwave powers asked with a Texan accent and mocking tone.

“Webhead? Oh, that’s why your familiar, your Shockey, one of Spider-Man’s second-rate opponents; why are...ah!” Ms. Marvel started to ask when she got cut off by the need to dodge a blast from the villain’s gauntlets that obliterated the fire hydrant plus the surrounding pavement. Given his body language, the teenager assumed she had said something to piss him off.

“Two things you need to know, you little punk, first is that the name is Shocker!” the man stated with an apparent dislike for lack of respect from the teen, which he makes extra clear by firing a blast from a single gauntlet to see how Ms. Marvel would avoid, then follow up with the second one to hit her with a weak shot to the chest when she jumped over the first attack.

The weak attack was simply the stunning blow, so as she fell back, Shocker sends a continuous full power double blast at Ms. Marvel to get his first solid hit on the cocky punk he got since she showed up.

Meanwhile, the young Pakistani had never felt this kind of pain in her life. It was like getting hit with a brick wall and finished by putting her insides through a blender. She was pretty sure she was screaming, but the only sound she could hear was the one created by the attack.

While the helpless heroine struggled even to move, Shocker moved in and grabbed Ms. Marvel by the compartment bracelet on her left arm and twist it enough to lock it behind her back.

“Second thing you need to know, I might not be king of the hill in New York, but Spider-Man at least he brings his A-game to our fights. On the other hand, you seem used to just smacking around local thugs and REAL second-rate villains. Round two in 1 hour at the address in your little piece of jewelry...don’t be late and no cops, people’s lives will be on the line,” Shocker whispered menacingly into her ear and then let go to go collect his loot.

By the time Ms. Marvel’s healing factor had repaired enough damage for her to get back up, Shocker had one bag of cash under each arm and used his gauntlets to launch himself into the air.

“You all right, Ms. Marvel? We got an ambulance on the way, so sit tight and...” asked one of the police who had been getting free of the vehicles blasted away earlier. This made any of them unable to consider providing cover fire, a thing most likely would not have happened out of fear of hitting their city’s hero, but it could have been an option.

Sadly the officer’s only response was seeing the blue domino masked girl make her legs triple length and take off in the direction the Shocker went, and they had noticed had an anxious look on her face.

“If we got a working radio, let the rest of force know we might want to be ready for something big...think our local cape if doing what she did with the Inventor and taking on too much again.”

-

Ms. Marvel knew there was so much she needed to do before she went to the obvious trap. The teen needed food to replenish what energy she lost; having to heal from so much damage, she needed a plan to fight a guy who had the edge if he landed one solid shot and needed...she needed a lot of things, to be honest.

‘Was I cocky, like he mentioned? Guess I did think there was nothing I couldn’t handle after the Inventor...’ Ms. Marvel mentally wondered until she remembered what Shocker had said about her bracelet.

Quickly she checked and saw a piece of paper slipped into the end near her wrist, giving her an address to aim for, rather than her attempt to catch up with Shocker. It also brought her mind backtrack to help whoever was in danger, rather than her personal matters.

“Let’s see, warehouse downtown, near the harbor...why is it always rundown abandoned places? There some supervillain code they follow? Where can I get a copy so I can flatten all the ‘good’ locations for any future nut jobs that think coming to New Jersey is a good idea,” the annoyed super teen grumbled out, heading for her ‘doom’...after she got a few hotdogs. If she were going to have a classic hero VS villain showdown, she would need fuel and there was a hotdog stand on the way there.

-

Ms. Marvel arrived at the warehouse with minutes to spare and the last bite of her pre-fight meal in her mouth. No matter how useful her healing factor was, the massive toll on her energy reserves, that was the only reason she risked possible hostages to stop and get food.

Making her way to the nearest door at the back of the rundown building, Ms. Marvel used the same trick she used to escape her room by making herself as flat as possible and slip under the door, hoping she could sneak in and find hostages without fighting Shocker.

The young heroine had to remind herself how she saved Bruno’s brother, not by having an epic smackdown but by doing a smash and grab. If anything, Shocker calling her out on her simple dive in and hit the target was the same mistake when doing her first rescue mission as Ms. Marvel.

‘I can deal with Shocker later; innocents come first...wish Lockjaw was here, where has the loveable squish face been since we dealt with the Inventor?’ Ms. Marvel wondered, thinking she would have liked some form of backup. But she would have to make do with her own abilities and pray they were enough.

Upon slipping under the door, Ms. Marvel noticed yet another cliché; the entire inside was dark.

“Cue lights in 3...2...1...arg!” The masked heroine grumbled as she allowed, then having to shield her eyes as said lights sprung to life, revealing the large open area, with only Shocker present in the middle of the room. But no sign of hostages, so what the heck was this all about.

“Okay...I’ll bite. Why the hoax to get me here? You had me back at the bank but let me go for this rematch, so what Saturday morning cartoon plot cliché we going for now?” Ms. Marvel demanded, wanting to know why she was being toyed with by this boom box on steroids.

Shocker just huffed at the words, like the polymorphic hero was beneath him, but before Ms. Marvel even embiggen her fists in anger, the sound of a cell phone echoed throughout the empty room.

Shocker produced said phone from the compartment on the belt and without a word, answered the call before sliding the device across the ground towards the confused heroine. Upon reach down to pick it, she saw the screen was showing video...of the faces of her terrified parents bound and gagged to chairs with devices strapped to their chests with a clear 10-minute timer on them.

“When...how...I was with them before...” Ms. Marvel whispered, trying to figure how Shocker got to her parents, the gruff Texan voice spoke up.

“Beat me before the timer runs out and they live, don’t and they go boom....that enough of a cliché for you bra--ack!” Shocker started to say but got cut off by a rapidly approaching super-sized fist flying at him from across the room and needed to brace for impact.

Unlike when Ms. Marvel tried the bank's swing kick, the blow managed to knock the Shocker back despite the strange barrier that seemed to react to incoming blows. As long as she packed enough force and could dig in, she could be a threat to this man.

“Tell me where they are!” Ms. Marvel screamed furiously; she had never felt like this before in her life. No matter what her current issues with her parents were, she still loved them and no force on Earth was going to dare to threaten those she loved.

“You don’t listen to instructions very well. I said win against me not-“ Shocker started to say but was cut off by another long-range punch, this time he dove out of the way and counter by a sonic blast from a single gauntlet aimed at Ms. Marvel’s feet.

This blue masked heroine knew not to make such large movements since she remembered merely making such a big leaping into the air left her open to attack last time. So her best action was to sidestep enough to avoid the blast, keeping the window for follow-up attacks small.

Sadly the blast shook the ground, putting the teen off-balance enough to do more of stumble forward rather than the dash she had intended.

Ms. Marvel's stumbling gave the Shocker a chance fire of a series of short, focused blasts from his gauntlets, keeping Ms. Marvel off balance and even forcing her back. She became forced to twist and bend her body in ways she had never tried before but had rough ideas for figuring out her powers upon getting them. The new trick made her moves awkward and clumsy, so it eventually allowed Shocker to score a direct hit to her chest and fall onto her back.

“You're finally taking this seriously I see, well let me see if you found a counter for this!” Shocker growled out, followed by the same continuous blast he had used on the young heroine at the bank. The only difference was he used a lower-powered version because the goal is to run the clock, not cripple his target as he had at the bank.

This did not change the fact that it made Ms. Marvel feel she as if she was getting torn apart inside and out. Ms. Marvel had never wanted to experience this attack again, but here she was, back on the receiving end of an attack that had not killed her yet because she had a healing factor.

Ms. Marvel wondered if her opponent knew of her ability to heal or if he got off torturing his foes because he would stop and target specific parts of her body. The part first was her legs, which led to her boots and her red bodysuit portion that covered her knees downward to get shredded to pieces.

The next location, he targets her right arm, most of the red sleeve in tatters and exposing a portion of her shoulder. Even with her eyes shut from the intense pain she was feeling, Ms. Marvel knew Shocker was lining up a shot for the left arm next, so she curled up into a ball to protect both it and the large bracelet she wore on it.

In a practical sense, the bracelet was used to carry small items in its hidden compartments, but more importantly, it was passed down from mother to daughter for generations. Ms. Marvel refused to let this bastard destroy it in his sick torture game. Plus, maybe Shocker would be so fixed on taking her apart piece by piece, her healing factor would get a chance to catch up and allow her polymorphic powers to kick back in since she could not heal and alter her body at the same time.

“I was wondering if that might happen. Guess even super-powered girls get protective of their little trinkets,” Shocker mocked, moving towards the fallen heroine and reach into the ball to pull the left arm out...only pull it back and roar in pain because he felt teenager bite his fingers.

“You little brat! Now you’re in for a world of hurt!” Shocker yelled as he shook off the pain, only to get another bust of it when an enlarged fist made an impact with a VERY sensitive part of his body. Even his reactive barrier could not stop.

The hit so paralyzed Shocker; it allowed Ms. Marvel the time needed to grow over ten feet tall and bring a double ax handle maneuver down on the vulnerable villain. The blow packed so much force, she felt the barrier collapse and finally get her second real hit in so far.

After two follow-up overhead smashes, the giant girl picked Shocker up and threw him like a baseball out a window near the warehouse's front. The sound of a loud splash soon followed, signaling the end of the battle at long last.

Quickly shrinking back down normal size, Ms. Marvel scrambled for the cell phone while calling out, “Okay, your boss is beat, now turn off the timer!”

Of female voice could be heard laughing as the masked girl clumsily picked up the phone, this time the screen showing a view overlooking the harbor, rather than the dark room her parents had been in previously.

“Stupid girl, that human scum was hired muscle to test the ‘Great Ms. Marvel’ in an actual fight and not birdman with a few toy robots...I expected you to be done faster than that, to be honest,” the voice stated mockingly, not bothering to show their face on the screen.

“It doesn’t matter if he was the boss or a goon for hire! The deal was I win before the timer runs out they get released unharmed!” the panic Pakistani demanded, not knowing how long her parents had left.

Ms. Marvel’s only response a single greyish white finger being put in front of the screen and shook back and forth in a scolding manner, then the woman turned the screen to show streets of the city, multiple red and blue flashing light could be seen as a sign the police where heading their way.

“Part of the deal was no cops and they are coming far too soon given that fight to have been the reason...and you know what that means,” The mocking voice stated before turning the phone to look towards the harbor.

“Nonononononono!” the heroine cried out rapidly, begging for the sight that soon filled the screen not to happen, a fiery explosion that was so close it shook the ground of the warehouse she was in.

“NNNNNNOOOOOO!” Ms. Marvel screamed as tears streamed down her face, already returning to her giant size for the extra stride speed, smashing through the front of the warehouse like it was cardboard.

Upon getting outside, she could see Shocker climbing out of the water, so her massive hand snatching him up while second ripped the gauntlets off his wrists.

“Who hired you?! Tell me!” the now wrath teen demanded as she poured on the speed in her enlarged state. She made her desire for the information very clear by squeezing so hard, Shocker screamed.

“I’m a...professional...I can’t tell-aaaahhhh!” Shocker started to say but got met with another powerful squeeze.

“Either you tell me or...” Ms. Marvel stated coldly, tears still streaming down her face as they got close to the blaze that had most likely consumed her parents’ lives. The fire might consume a third life shortly if she did not get what she wanted very soon.

“...I’ll roast you like a marshmallow!” the teen heroine finished, quickly turning Shocker upside down and then held him close to the burning building by his legs.

“Hold it! You heroes are supposed to have a no kill policy!” The terrified voice Shocker called out, getting flashbacks to when the Punisher had come after him.

Before Ms. Marvel could reply, a familiar voice called out through a megaphone, “Ms. Marvel, you need to put him down right now!”

Tear streaked face of Ms. Marvel turned to see the familiar face of the large dark-skinned police officer who often been at the scene of every arrest she had pulled off once she put on the mask. Around him a dozen other police cars, with officers getting out...and pointing their guns in her direction.

“But he-he killed them...he deserves this! People are dead because of him!” the furious teen screamed, so filled with anger and sadness she was more focused on the man in her grasp rather than the mystery woman who pushed the button.

“Not your call kid, don’t throw all good you’ve done away because of him... you're better than that!” the office called back, noting his words must have struck of nerve since he clearly could see Ms. Marvel’s legs get weaker.

The words of her being ‘better than that’ had reminded her when Abu told her Kamala meant perfection. It made her think she needed to be the best she could be to be a good Ms. Marvel. Now she on the verge of being the worse version of herself...Abu and Ammi must already be looking down from heaven in disgust at her actions right now.

So the distraught child did the only thing a super-powered girl could do, she collapsed to her knees crying, Shocker knocked out when he ground next to her when her size slowly returned to normal and could not hold his weight up anymore.

The police quickly moved in to apprehend Shocker, getting him secured before he regained consciousness, leaving the sobbing heroine to the one that managed to talk her down from murdering the villain.

“You going to be alright kid?” the officer asked, mostly knowing the answer given how the usually bright-eyed and positive girl had nearly gone rouge on them. The words he heard next were about what he’d been expecting.

“I don’t think....*sob*....I’ll ever be....*sob*....alright!” Ms. Marvel managing to get words out between her busts of tears, she could feel her world crumbling around her and she could not stop it.

“You better come in then. You’re in no shape to be on your own right now. We’ll find a nice quiet place at the precinct you can rest and...” the officer started to say, moving to reach for Ms. Marvel’s arm when she shoved it away, screaming ‘No!’

Ms. Marvel heard voices calling out, but the words sounded distant as she only focused the part of ‘You better come in then’; she was a criminal now with those words. What was left of Ms. Marvel’s world had now truly been shattered, so all she could in her distraught state was run into the night as fast as her rabidly growing legs could carry her.


	2. Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ms. Marvel is in hiding but her time is running out, with Jersey's police force moving in and their deadline fast approaching. With little sleep and unable to eat, can she pull off another miracle win or will it take the aid of others to pull her from the darkness this time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is chapter 2, hope you all enjoy and will let me know what you think in the comments

Chapter 2 – Intervention

No matter where she looked, flames were everywhere, and Kamala could not see either her parents or an escape route. All she could find was fire, smoke and intense heat, making it impossible for her to find the people needed to save.

“Ammi! Abu! Where are you?!” Kamala screamed out, praying they would answer her; she needed to save them this time.

“She thinks she’s our Kamala, Muneeba,” Kamala’s father voice answered from somewhere within flames, but the teenager could not tell where.

“That can’t be Yusuf, our daughter is many things, but a masked failure is not one of them,” the voice of Kamala’s mother replied, equally as invisible to the young girl’s sight.

Upon hearing the word, ‘mask’ Kamala reached for her face, finding a familiar domino mask on it and also notices she was in full costume.

“N-n-no! It-it’s me....Kamala....I....I....” the distraught teen said through sobs and tears, trying to rip the mask from her face, but it refused to budge.

As Kamala fought with the mask, her parents’ voices continued their verbal assault with words like ‘fraud’ and ‘disgrace’. Each one bringing the flames closer and grows in intensity until she started to scream in pain as they consumed her....before waking up still screaming and dripping in a cold sweat.

“No....not another one,” Kamala whispered, still panting heavily and throat sore from her screams. She then remembered the part about her mask and was relieved to find it still bare. However, she did still have the costume on, though it was intact in her dream, but now that this reality the outfit shadow of its former glory due to the Shocker destroying portions of it and what was left had random small rips and tears.

Kamala had been having similar dreams for...the last two days now so long as the phone Shocker had tossed to her before their second fight was accurate. Between the lack of sleep and having issues eating, she was feeling exhausted.

Food was an issue for two main reasons. One is that the idea of eating disgusted Kamala since her first thought before round had been to get hotdogs to refuel instead of focusing on saving the hostages, who at the time had still been unknown and only implied even to exist.

The second issue with it was Jersey’s finest where out in force, having issued her a 72-hour notice to allow the nearby officers to bring her in willingly. The weird part was part of the announcement was they would only approach her if they see her but not give chase in hopes she would surrender.

For Kamala, this meant getting into a store even to grab a bag chips was near impossible, out fear of getting cornered a police officer deciding risk rushing her despite still having time left.

It did not help junk food was about all she could afford anyway at this point since her prefight meal before her last battle drained most of her remaining funds. It was why Bruno had brought food to her. It was the only way to keep her from running out in money since it was for emergencies.

‘I underappreciated what he did for me and now....’ Kamala thought to herself, recalling the only other story besides her near murder of the Shocker trying to get attention in the headlines. The story about when two young boys who were put in critical condition while trying to protect the parents of one of the boys from a group of three unknown super-powered individuals.

One of the boys was her brother Aamir and the other Bruno, meaning the woman Kamala had talked to had henchmen...if not one herself and was just the go-between for Shocker and whoever was in charge.

‘The police are after me, my parents’ killer seems to be part of a group that is targeting me for some reason and my only friend I could turn to for help is possibly dying alongside my older brother...what am I supposed to do?’ The exhausted teen thought, lost in her mind until she heard voices from down one of the passages leading into the Inventor's former lair.

Kamala scramble for her mask, becoming Ms. Marvel once again. But before she could fully climb out of the sleeping bag and start reaching for at least her backpack, a voice called out, “Hold it Marvel!”

The heroine turns towards the source voice and sees three officers standing at one entrance to the chamber. One was large and well built but clearly in the tail end of his career, while the other two were young, possibly rookies. None had gone for their weapons, but the older officer was gesturing for others to stay back while he advanced closer to the heroine.

“This is where you live? Superpowers or not, there is no way you can survive down here for long...I don’t even want to know how long you already been living like this as-is,” the large man started saying but stopped when his only response was to see the masked teen clumsily stumble away and try and make it towards a different tunnel.

“There no point kid, you got a little less than a day and then the higher-ups are going to bring the hammer down...come with us, we’ll get you help,” The office continued to say, hoping he could pull off a miracle and get this scared and confused teen to see some level of reason.

“N-n-n-no! I-I-If I do that...people find out who I am....what I am...” Ms. Marvel managed to say, finally getting her feet back under her and backing away as fast as the officer could move forward.

“And what are you? A hero who almost made a bad choice? A kid who took on too much and is letting the fallout of what happened to eat at her? I get it you are scared, you’re tired and dealing with more than just what happened a couple of nights ago if you think the sewers are good a place to live,” The officer tried yet again, even though he could see with every word was making the young girl more scared.

“You don’t understand at all! I’m a monster! A failure! Those people...they are dead because I was not good enough! I was supposed to save them, but now they’re gone!” Ms. Marvel screamed at the man trying to help her before turning around began running yet again.

“No kid don’t....dam it!” Officer called as the hero ran but gave up knowing the whole point of the order to only approach but not chase or force Ms. Marvel to come with them to avoid anyone getting hurt or make the super-powered do something in a panic.

“Should we call this location in sir,” one of the rookies called over while the other went where Ms. Marvel had been sleeping and looked through the trash bags.

“A superhero that is a fan of other superheroes?” The confused second rookie asked aloud, holding up a Captain Marvel plushy.

“Put that back and yes, we calling this in....also let them know we might want call in the ‘backup’ now rather than wait until tomorrow. The specialists certainly have a better chance of getting Ms. Marvel to stand down,” The senior officer stated, his eyes not leaving the trash bags that the second rookie implied held more than just a few pieces of superhero items.

‘They certainly have better odds than us,’ the older officer thought.

-

Ms. Marvel made her way through the sewers as fast as she could in her current state. The lack of food in her system meant moving quickly was difficult. Let alone making any part of her body Embiggen. The lack of making her legs longer or stretch her arms towards hard-to-reach ladders meant it far longer than desired to find a way back to street level or even get the maintenance hole cover out of the way.

The good news was she came out in a shadowy part of an alleyway and not the middle of the street, so no need to worry about getting hit by a car. The young heroine doubted she could heal from a paper cut right now, let alone a head-on collision to the face.

As Ms. Marvel climbed out, though her stomach reminded her it still had not been fed in 2 days for the millionth time. With little sleep and endless hunger, the teen's current disgust of eating being quickly outvoted by the instinct to survive.

“Sounds like little Ms. Most Wanted is hungry....well so are we....for payback!” came a voice from behind her, making the heroine spin around to see a group of 4 guys in their early to mid-20s dressed like stereotypical street thugs at the opposite end of the alley.

Ms. Marvel looked up sky as if asking the world if it could finally let her catch a break and then look over at the group and say with as much false bravado as she could muster, “I'm already having a day, so you sure this is the proverbial hill you want to die on? It sounds like I have already dealt with all of you at least once...street scum all look the same, so don't be offended if I did bother to keeping track."

A collective snort from the goons implied they were neither impressed nor intimated. Ms. Marvel’s state of exhaustion was apparent and the fact her stomach had been so loud it would not be hard for most to guess the usually formidable superhero was running on empty.

As the four men advanced on their target, only for an elderly man Ms. Marvel knew all too well came up from behind her and stood like a wall between the hoodlums and heroine.

"Sheikh Abdullah," Ms. Marvel whispered in shock, surprised anyone would come to her defense right now, let alone someone who was unable to face even one of these men.

"Move, old man or we'll make you," The hoodlum who had taken point demanded but got met with a cold glare from the Sheikh.

"Four grown men ganging up on a starving child. I think I'll remain where I am," the elderly man replied calmly, even as the hoodlum pulled out a gun and pointed it at Sheikh Abdullah's face.

"I said mo-" the gunman started to say, only to be cut off by a large hand grab him and get slammed into the ground.

The other three gang members barely had time even to return their attention to their original target. The now pissed-off Ms. Marvel dove at them with a feral scream and backhand them ease into a wall of the alley with the arm she had managed to Embiggen with the strength gained from her rage.

"Not again....never again...." Ms. Marvel said, panting heavily and her head now covered in sweat from tapping into her powers in such a state. Her vision was a bit blurry and her head was getting light. If she did not get food soon, she would pass out.

As the superhero knees started to buckle though, she soon found Sheikh Abdullah catching her and offering her a shoulder to lean on.

"Come, Sister Kamala, let's get you some food and then to the mosque so you can get cleaned up," the spiritual leader of the community whispered into her ear as he helped her walk towards the nearest exit of the alley.

Ms. Marvel was about to thank him for his help until she realized he did not call her the right name and used her free hand to confirm her mask was still in place. It was.

"What did you say?" Ms. Marvel asked, but before the conversation could continue, the sound of a cocking gun was heard from behind them.

"Crazy bitch! Just die already!" The gunman roared out, preparing fire as Ms. Marvel did her best to put herself between the soon to be fired bullet and the Sheikh. She had shut her eyes, so when she heard the loud bang, Ms. Marvel was shocked to hear the sound of metal on metal happen instead of experiencing the intense pain she remembered from the only other time she had a bullet in her.

As Ms. Marvel opened her eyes, the sight of an all too familiar red, white and blue uniform greeted her, the man wearing it looking over his shoulder and giving her an approving smile. Simultaneously, the shield was held in front of him defensively and protected the pair from the shot.

"Good work soldier, now stand down and let me take care of him from here," The firm but the kind voice of Captain America told her as the stunned teen allowed herself to fall to her knees in silence.

"Oh, come on! Don't you have aliens or something to deal with?!" The gun yelled in frustration and looked like he was going fire again but stopped by quickly thrown shield connecting with his face, knocking him out.

As Captain America caught the shield on its return, he reached for a communication device in his ear and called out, "Iron Man, I found her and looks like she might need a good meal and some medical attention. Yes, I'm well aware she can heal once she eats, but she was in the sewers for who knows how long and we don't know what her healing factor can and can't deal with...no we won't wait for until we are back at the tower...this conversation is over Tony."

After his call was over, Captain America turned back to Ms. Marvel and offered a hand to the still stunned girl. She was about to take it until something clicked in her mind and rabidly pulled it back while beginning to tremble in fear.

"What do you mean you...you found me?" Ms. Marvel asked in a weak voice, almost sound like a small child rather than a girl in her mid-teens.

Captain smiled sadly back, before slowly putting his shield on the ground, sliding it towards her with his foot and then taking a couple of steps back before sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"I mean just that Ms. Marvel, both Iron Man and I came to Jersey to find you. We were hoping you would turn yourself in and we could have the conversation in private. Still, under the advisement of the officer you spoke to earlier, we decided to split up and find you before the deadline rather than wait until midnight and have you feel cornered under the gaze of a whole city. Two fellow heroes," Captain America explained, noting the girl was at least listening to him rather than trying to run like during a previous encounter with the police. He assumed it was a mix of a drained state plus him disarming and moving the shield close to the fledgeling hero where main reasons.

Too weak to keep running but being given the feeling of an edge over someone who was currently more formidable then herself gave the girl a sense of control when the girl had none was what she needed to remain calm.

The captain had to smile as he watched Ms. Marvel in a state of childish wonder reached to touch the iconic weapon but was stopped when loud crash it the ground next to them. They looked over to see the iconic red and yellow armour of Iron Man in classic punch the ground landing pose.

Ms. Marvel's world began spinning as she tried scrambling to get away; all she could remember before everything went black was a lot of yelling.

-

Ms. Marvel woke up to the taste of a strange fruity milkshake-like substance being poured slowly down her throat and her body giving off the faint yellow glow that happened at times when using her powers. In this case, her healing factor using fuel the drink was somehow giving her.

Being confused at first made her start to choke on the substance, having the cup that was the source being pulled away by the hand holding it and told, "Easy there soldier."

Ms. Marvel looked around and found herself on the floor mosque and was held up by Sheikh Abdullah, while Captain America had one giving her the drink in her unconscious state...whatever it was.

"Weirdest milkshake I ever had...and what am I healing from? I'm pretty sure I healed from my fight from Shocker already," Ms. Marvel wonders aloud, getting a small chuckle from Captain America.

"It’s a protein shake, from a nearby gym, I thought a few might help jump-start any healing you might need. More importantly, it would give your body some fuel if you were as hungry as the Sheikh said you sounded," The Captain told his fellow superhero while gesturing to two large empty cups go along with the one he still held in his hand.

As Ms. Marvel became red-faced as finding out she had needed that much protein to regain consciousness, Captain continued, "As for what you were healing from, it's hard to say. Maybe leftover injuries you were not aware of from the second battle. Possibly your healing factor is fending off who know what you got from sleeping in the sewers or you did something to your body accesses your powers when you were already in such a weakened state."

"What matter right now is, what do you plan on doing with Sister Marvel? True she almost did a terrible thing in a moment of anger, but he must have inflicted serious harm on her beforehand. He murdered...two innocent members of this community right in front her," Sheikh Abdullah asked, place his hands on Ms. Marvel's shoulders on a comforting manner while pulling her back just enough to have her head rest against his chest.

Ms. Marvel wanted to relax in the grandfatherly like embrace of the Sheikh, but she still remembered that he called her by another name earlier, so was unable to let all the tension leave her body.

"No one is arguing Shocker was a clear threat, but without knowing why Ms. Marvel was ready to burn him alive it's hard for the police to- "Captain America started to reply, but stopped when somehow the petite heroine's soft voice managed to be still heard.

"Shocker did not set off the explosion; he was just there to run the clock. If I had won faster or been less arrogant in the first fight, maybe they would still be here. That woman would not have..." the young Pakistani started to say, but trembled at the flashback of the woman's finger waving back and forth before the explosion.

"What woman? Ms. Marvel this is important, did you know who it was or what she wanted?" the veteran hero asked, clearly wanting to press for answers but was also still trying not to scare the girl he was questioning.

"I only saw her finger and heard her voice on the screen of the phone I was using. All she said was that Shocker was a test and her scolding me for 'calling the police' even though I have no clue how they were showing so fast. After that, she made sure I saw the explosion and the rest everyone in Jersey knows," Ms. Marvel answered as best she could, though more focused on stopping her body from shaking and from breaking down crying yet again.

"That enough for now child, this can be discussed later," Sheikh Abdullah told the trembling girl in his arms, then turned to look back at the captain and gave the man a look that challenged him to counter the point.

The Sheikh was surprised to see the former soldier seemed pleased with the answer and stood up.

"Seems our suspicions where right Iron Man, I'm assuming you got that recorded so we can save Ms. Marvel some of the trouble?" Captain America called over his shoulder, making Ms. Marvel look over to the far corner of the room to Iron Man standing there like he was doing a time out.

"Oh am I allowed to talk now?" came a snarky reply from red and yellow-clad hero, marching over the group in an annoyed fashion and then looked right at the domino masked girl.

"Don’t know how you know gramps there but he can be a scary son of-ah!” The armoured hero started to say but dove out of the way of a massive fist coming at him from a ticked off teen.

“Don’t you dare disrespect Sheikh Abdullah like that?!” The enraged superheroine screamed, not allowing even one of the heroes she looked up to talk about one of the few people still she had left in her life in such a way.

Only a short while ago, the Sheikh scared the crap out of her, but after admitting she ‘helped people’ and he offered advice rather than stern lectured, she saw the elderly man in a different light. Maybe her confession of helping people was what gave her away as being Jersey City’s only superhero?

“Sister Marvel, this is a place of worship, not a battlefield!” The Sheikh's voice scolded behind her, causing Ms. Marvel to shrink her arm back down to normal size and squeak out an apology. A new light or not, clearly the old man could still scare the crap out of her if he wanted to.

To add to her humiliation, Captain America laughed a hearty laugh, clearly enjoying the sight of the ‘Invincible Iron Man’ having to scramble out of the way of a raging teen, only for said girl to be stopped by nothing but a few words from a holy man.

“Yuck it up Cap...also give it to her so we can get the hard part over with,” Iron Man grumbled at first, but his tone went somber after his pause.

Ms. Marvel was confused until Captain America produced an armband the size of her bracelet, but was made of steel and painted in her costume’s colours. Her gut told her it was not a fashion accessory though given the darkening mood in the room.

“This, Ms. Marvel is a power nullifier, tracking device and to a limited capacity, a communicator to contact select individuals on the team. Since your coming with us rather than to the police, we needed to give them certain concessions to assure them you were getting the help you need. Not just leaving to avoid punishment,” Captain America explained, his expression growing sad as he saw fear growing in the young girl’s eyes.

“We also need you to hand your costume once we get you a change of clothes and let us know who you are, just us mind you and not the whole world,” Iron Man added, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back for the younger heroine.

“No! Being Ms. Marvel is all I have left! If I lose everything that makes me her, then I’m nothing!” Ms. Marvel screamed, tears flowing down her face at long last. The idea of losing her powers, her costume, her secret. It was too much after already losing her family.

“Easy there soldier....” Captain America started to say but was stopped by Iron Man holding his arm out and opening his helmet's faceplate to reveal stern expression on his face.

“If you think your nothing without the costume or powers, that a sign you should not be doing this stuff. The person behind the mask is what matters. The alter ego is a tool, the second that’s reversed then it’s time to stop and reflect on why you started!” The billionaire superhero scolded, taking a step towards the girl with every word until he was right in her face.

“You know nothing about me! I made mistakes and they cost me everything I had! If I ever want to make up for it all, I need to be Ms. Marvel!” The teenager countered, only have the older hero grab her by the front her of costume and lift her to eye level.

“And what mistakes are so important that you put your well being on hold? Most people don’t nearly burn others alive or run from everyone trying to help them!” Iron Man roared back, only shocked when the girl ripped off her mask to reveal face he had seen on the news due to her connection to the two people who died that night.

“Because I’m the reason their dead! My Ammi and Abu are dead because I ran away from home over some stupid toys getting thrown out! If I had just stayed home they *sob* they would still be *sob* here...I might as well have killed them myself!” Kamala sobbed, having put back down before she had even halfway through her rant.

“All the more reason to let her go kid....you need to grieve, to heal in ways your powers can’t help you. What you’ve been through, it’s going to leave you’re in no state to face down a pickpocket let alone those who are after you. You’ll be that little bit slower, sloppier, an easy target,” Iron replied much more calmly, almost comfortingly despite the man not being the best with kids.

“I can’t....I’m not strong enough to do that...” Kamala sobbed out, clutching her mask in both hands and her eyes shut tight as her head hung low. Until she felt a familiar hand place itself on her shoulder and looked see Sheikh Abdullah at her side again, using his free hand to shove Iron Man back a few steps.

“Then let me take that burden from you, Sister Kamala, once I get you a change of clothes that is. You go to the woman’s wudu room and get yourself cleaned up. I’ll meet you in the hall once you’re finished,” The Sheikh encouraged gently, which seemed to get a meek nod from the girl and make her way further into the mosque.

After Kamala was out of sight, the Sheikh turned to Iron Man with a glare that paralyzed the armour-clad veteran of many battles more than any supervillain ever could.

“Touch her in such a manner again and Allah so help me you will regret it! Do I make myself clear!” Abdullah growled out, getting a rabid nod on confirmation from the billionaire. This being the second time that day the old man made Tony Stark’s blood run cold. The Sheikh had been the one to put the hero in the corner after all.

Feeling satisfied, the Sheikh went off to donation bin to see if he could find something for Kamala to wear, while Captain America came up from behind and smacked Iron Man in the back of the head with his shield.

“If Ms. Marvel is going be living at the tower with the rest of the team, you can’t treat her like that Tony. You could very well have made her too scared to approach you now if she needs to!” The Captain scolded his fellow Avenger; he was still nursing the back of his head despite still wearing his helmet.

“How was I supposed to know that was why she was taking that night so hard? I thought she was just upset she was not living up to whatever image of hero she had in her head, not grieving over her parents being killed right in front of her!” Iron Man tried to counter, only to be silenced by a glare from the other man.

“It shouldn’t have mattered!” the Captain barked, ending the discussion.

-

A short while later, Kamala was finishing washing the dirt and grime her bare feet and legs, she missed having her boots, but Shocker had obliterated them during their battle.

The young girl felt like she was desecrating this place with her filth, this was a place to prepare for prayer, not wash away the evidence of her failures, or make herself presentable for people she admired. But Sheikh Abdullah had requested Kamala to get clean up and she was going to do as an elder asked for once

Upon finishing, Kamala came out to find Sheikh Abdullah waiting by the door in a chair and holding a pair of light grey sweat pants and sweatshirt, though she thought noticed something black between the two items. There were several pairs of shoes, most likely of varying sizes

“Sorry to make you wait so long Sheikh Abdullah...um do you have anything I could use to clean...” Kamala started to ask, but clearly, the elderly man knew what she about to ask for and shook his head.

“I can deal with that later Sister Kamala, the time for you to help others has passed and now is the time you must focus on yourself,” Sheikh Abdullah calmly stated, as he set the clothes down and stepped in front of the now much cleaner girl.

Kamala gripped the mask tight in her hands as the holy man asked if she was ready, which meekly nodded and shut her eyes tight, so she did not need to watch what was about to happen.

She then felt the red scarf around her neck get gently unwrapped and pulled away, followed by a moment of nothing which made her open eye to see the Sheikh neatly folding it up and respectfully placing it the ground.

Next, he carefully had her raise her arms to help remove the blue burkini that had the large lightning bolt symbol painted on the chest. As she felt the last it get pulled over her head, Kamala started to shake with fear but used all her willpower to force the fear and sadness down as best she could.

Kamala thought the third step would be the Sheikh moving to help her up to remove the tattered red bodysuit but felt the compartment bracelet on her arm start to move instead.

“Please don’t take it....it was Ammi’s before she gave it to me....it’s more than just piece of the uniform,” Kamala begged in a whisper, but was still heard by Sheikh, who stopped and gently pushed the item back into place.

“Just make sure you tell them that and we can see what they can do,” The elderly man replied with a gentle smile and then slowly had her get up so they could finish.

Kamala had to take over for less painful than having the portion with her lightning bolt taken away. Still, it felt like she had just lost a piece of herself as the final portion of her superhero identity got stripped away if you did not count her bracelet on her arm.

Kamala handed her mask and bodysuit to the Sheikh as respectfully as she could, before quickly grabbing the changed of clothes and went back into the wudu room, so she did not have to be seen in just her underwear and bra anymore.

Though as she lifted the sweatshirt, she got a better look at the t-shirt wedged between the two other items and rushed back out to hug the Sheikh and whispered, “Thank you.”

“It just a shirt child, now go change,” Sheikh Abdullah, replied with a laugh as the teen went back into the room. He was glad to finally see tears of joy rather than those anger or sadness on girl’s face. To think a simple design could have such an effect.

“I lost one lightning bolt, but at least I have this,” Kamala whispered as she slipped the t-shirt on, one that was like the one on Carol Danvers’ black costume when she was Ms. Marvel. It inspired her own, so both were pretty similar, but it still felt like she was borrowing her idol’s old one rather than cheating and keeping the one she needed to give up for now.

After putting the shirt on, she slid on the sweat pants and shirt, rolling up her left sleeve so it did not seem like was trying to hide the bracelet. After exiting once more, she went through the shoes and found pair if worn but still usable white runners that fit well enough.

As two rejoined the veteran heroes in the main hall of the mosque, Kamala’s right hand around the item on her left arm protectively as she asked, “C-Can I at least keep this? It was my Ammi....my mom’s. I just use it for carrying things when in costume.”

The three adults looked at her confusion, until she pulled out Shocker’s phone from one of the hidden compartments, along with note he gave her telling the young heroine where their rematch was going to be.

“Been wondered why she wore that when going into fights,” Iron Man mumbled aloud, while Captain America approached the girl with the nullifier armband.

“Just for appearances than let us hold onto it until we get back to the tower. It’s a rather notable item given how you have worn it since you started a few months back,” The Captain suggested, which did seem to be acceptable to the teen, thought was still clearly slow to remove the piece of jewellery from her arm.

Soon in its place was the nullifier, a notably heavier item but by no means crippling weight. Kamala prayed she would not need to get used to it.

When she still felt like she usually did, Kamala whispered aloud “Embiggen”, and her right fist still doubled in size.

“Um...you might want to shrink back down before I turn it on, I hear sudden power cut off can leave superhumans feeling pretty disoriented,” Iron Man warned, being cautious about speaking to the teen since he was still in hot water with both Cap and the Sheikh.

“Oh, sorry!” Kamala squeaked out as she let her hand go back to normal, praying she had not done something wrong.

“Easy there kiddo, just stay relaxed and in 5....4....3....2....1....and there we go,” Iron Man replied calmly and with a beep and the feeling that was a mix of jolt and shiver passed through Kamala body, followed by an emptying one after the initial shock passed.

“Embiggen....Embiggen....please Embiggen,” Kamala kept whispering in a begging tone, even though she knew this was supposed to happen. Part her still clung hope she still would have something...anything! But with that one beep, Ms. Marvel was gone and all that was left was a failure whom killed most of her family. What was left got was on life support.

“That’s enough solider, let Ms. Marvel rest for now and allow Kamala Khan to take point,” Captain America assured the child before him, before taking the mask back from the Sheikh and handing it over to Kamala.

“Or at least what rest as we can give her without letting the vultures outside learning much,” He added sourly, gesturing to the windows near the front of the mosque.

Kamala slipped the mask on in confusion before looking the window to see it was early evening and there were many people outside, mainly news crew and police officers a sight that made the former Ms. Marvel’s blood run cold.

“Kill me....kill me now,” Kamala said as looked back to the adults in the room, all of with looked very uncertain how serious she was, given what they knew of the current situation they would not put it past the girl have suicidal thoughts.

“Let’s not go nuclear just yet kid...Sheikh I know I’m not your favourite person right now, but if you could come with us to the station so she can have someone she knows with for the last bit before we take her to Avengers Tower?” Iron Man asked, feeling like this seemingly harmless old man would somehow crush him if he said the wrong thing.

“Of course, just remember what I told you earlier,” Sheikh Abdullah stated in an eerily calm manner, before gesturing for Kamala to come to his side and head for the door.

As Kamala noticed Iron Man visibly stiffen at the Sheikh’s words, she had to ask, “If I ever can come back, can I be your sidekick?”

Sheikh lets out a hearty laugh, while Captain America followed after the two civilians, but not before getting a shot in on Tony, “Coming Copper Boy?”

“Shut it Rogers, before I unibeam your ass!”

-

Kamala had pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up in the vain hope keep the camera flashes at bay. At the same time, other reports tried to force her answer questions by shoving microphones in her face. Still, Iron Man and Captain America managed to put themselves in the way as best they could, while Sheikh Abdullah helped her move forward as fast as possible to a waiting patrol car.

The drive the precinct had only taken a short while in real-time, but for Kamala, it felts like hours. Captain America had assured her, pre-agreed on deals would streamline the processes, but had stated Kamala would still give a statement and answer what questions she could to the best of her ability. Even with the recording Iron Man made when she and the Captain had spoken earlier.

Entering the police station had made feel even more dread, half expecting the nearest officers to grab her on sight, but all that happened many stopping watch her get lead into a room that integration room where the police chief and the DA had been waiting.

After almost two hours going over her story and re-going over it, the DA slammed his fist down on the table and roared out, “You not giving all the details! You keep claiming you only knew the Khans from one short meeting that day yet you nearly lost it over their deaths? What are you hiding girl?!”

“Is it so hard to believe a teenager would act such a way? One that that to have shown a strong sense of justice and then forced to see people she felt she had to protect get violently killed before her eyes?” Sheikh Abdullah cut in, his voice calm and was the only reason Kamala got this far since he would often step in during moments of possible secrets getting revealed.

“Will you please stop interrupting?! You being her ‘Sheikh’ still doesn’t give you a say in this matter!” The DA shot back but cut off by the red and yellow hand of Iron Man coming down on the table with a decent sounding thud.

“He has a say because I say he does. I invited him for that purpose. Contacting Ms. Marvel’s legal guardians would expose her identity, which was agreed on before this meeting that it would be kept secret as long as her story lines up. Which I like to remind you is solid given we have the note, the phone and Shocker’s actions are VERY against his usual MO,” Iron Man interjected, his faceplate open so his facial expressions would provide that extra edge. He had dealt with entire teams of lawyers, corporations and villains. A single DA was hardly a challenge....the Sheikh, on the other hand, terrified him and kind of wish the old man put the fear of God into the DA already.

“Regardless, I have all I need. Been a pleasure working with Ms. Marvel, I wish you luck with your recovery,” The police chief stated, before shaking a stunned Kamala’s hand and leaving the room while the DA got so red in the face, many thought steam should be visibly coming out of his ears.

“This is not...” the DA started to say, but cut off Sheikh promptly standing up used a glare that used to make Kamala the elderly man hated her.

“Yes, it is! Good evening sir!” The Sheikh’s voice stated, then gently took Kamala’s arm and began leading her out of the room; both being flanked by Captain America while Iron Man remained behind for the finishing blow.

“You can try and fight this, but know that Ms. Marvel has the backing of my company so in the event you could somehow bring her to court, I have names like Jennifer William’s on speed dial. You know, the green lady about this tall...her cousin is one of my team’s big guns,” Tony stated with a smirk, then shut the faceplate of his armour before marching out to catch up with the group.

-

“Are you sure I can’t be your sidekick?” Kamala asked her new top non-superhero, who simply rolled his eyes while chuckling.

“I save people from threats from within their souls, Sister Marvel. Your calling is to protect people from threats of the physical world. Once you had chance face your inner foes that is,” The Sheikh explained, an almost sagely that it made Kamala feel hopeful until she realized that she needed him more than ever but would very far away soon.

“So how do I fight them when I need someone like you?” she asked, looking downward, so she missed the Sheikh looking back to Captain America who silently nodded to the unasked question.

Before the Sheikh could say anything to Kamala though, they saw a sight they thought the teenager should see.

“Eyes forward soldier,” Captain America ordered, making the confused girl look around at first until she noticed several officers lined up two rows on either side of the door leading out of the station.

“Attention!” the voice of police chief ordered and in perfect unison, both rows saluted the departing heroine. They were letting her know they still respected her and that this was just goodbye, not farewell.

As the teary-eyed Kamala was encouraged to keep walking forward by the Sheikh and Captain America, a familiar plump dark-skinned officer stopped her to say, “Take your time kid, we’ll hold down the fort while you’re gone.”

The young girl had to stop returning the salute after hearing this, but many could see that she was hurting inside despite the smile she put on for their sake. She did not want to leave her home, even if she had to for the time being.

“Stay strong Sister Marvel,” Sheikh Abdullah whispered to her before finally getting her to continue towards the door. Upon exiting, she could hear the DA screams of frustration, guessing the little display was not to his liking. Kamala was oddly okay with that.

“Feeling a bit better after that solider?” Captain America asked, seeing the rookie fighting to keep a rollercoaster of emotions under control.

“Is it wrong to want to say yes and no at the same time?” Kamala countered with her question, her voice soft and weak after so much happening over a day. She needed peace and quiet even to begin sorting out in her head what was going on, but it was like the day kept find a new way to throw her off balance.

“Not at all, given the circumstances,” Captain replied, smiling at the young girl and then looked up when he heard a familiar engine sound coming from above. The sound of a quinjet arriving.

“Malady, your chariot awaits,” Iron Man said good-naturedly, only get a disproving look from the Sheikh.

“What? I was nice, so what is with the glare?” Iron Man demanded, still under the Abdullah disapproving gaze.

“You’re a well-known womanizer Mr. Stark” The Sheikh stated firmly, not trusting a man with such a reputation.

“She’s a teenager!” Iron Man countered, shocked anyone would think he would hit on an underaged girl!

“I fail to see how that would stop you!” The Sheikh fired back.

“Enough!” Captain America stated firmly, ending the argument between the two men and then looked to Kamala and gestured for her to get aboard.

With a nod, Kamala gave the Sheikh a final hug and then headed for the ramp that had lowered from the jet. As she got inside, saw two familiar faces from all the times she roamed various superhero sites. One was Clint Barton aka Hawkeye who was in the pilot seat and other Natasha Romanov aka Black Window who was in one of the seats in the back of the jet and kept a close eye on Kamala for some reason.

“Um...hi,” Kamala said meekly, as she picked a seat and tried to get buckled in, while Captain America and Iron Man came aboard, Iron Man now carrying several trash bags and a familiar backpack.

“These those toys you mentioned earlier? This is a lot of hero merch from what the officer mentioned. Something you want to tell us Stretch?” Iron Man asked, the humour in his voice very apparent.

Kamala wanted to die or shrink to the smallest size she could achieve when she had her powers. Neither was an option sadly.

“Some kind of call me a.....a fangirl when it comes to superheroes,” The petite girl said as her face got red from the humiliation of having to admit that in front of said heroes.

“Oh please tell me you write fanfiction, Hulk got into it and has been obsessed over this one where Cap, Iron Man and Captain Marvel are saving a bunch of unicorns on some alien planet and I think he wants some new stuff to read!” Hawkeye called back as he began take-off preparations.

“Is that the one where I go ‘Justiiiice’ and take out the monster?” Iron Man asked, making Captain America and Black Widow groan.

“I ever find this ‘Slothbaby’ I’m going to them learn to write better dialogue!” Captain America grumbled while Black Window facepalmed and mumbled how a bunch of children surrounded her.

“What’s wrong with how I write dialogue?!” Kamala screamed in frustration and then realized that it was probably not the best thing to do in a confined space and her powers on lockdown.

The entire quinjet was dead silent, up until both Hawkeye and Iron Man burst out laughing, while Captain America promptly sat down next to Kamala, clearly having plans for a long ‘talk’ with the girl. Black Window was only one not going after the teen for her writing.

In a desperate attempt escape this whole dumpster fire of a scenario, Kamala yelled out something that was on her mind since she found out Captain America and Iron Man came to Jersey just find her.

“Can someone please tell what is going on? Why are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes coming all to Jersey to help some nobody who until a few days ago only dealt with street crime and a crazy birdman that thought he was an evil genius?”

Her desperate attempt to escape her embarrassment, she had actually asked one of the most critical questions that could significantly affect the rest of her life.

“We were hoping you would not ask that so soon, but guess its better we get to the heart matter,” Iron Man replied, sounds much more serious now.

“You’re not the only Inhuman caught up in an odd battle. You are just only one we have been able to get to before you disappeared. Our guess being the increased patrols in the hopes you let them bring you to the station scared them off the kidnappers or that you were so quick to go underground,” Black Window added, the first time speaking to the teen, though she still rarely took her gaze off Kamala.

“We are assuming whoever this unknown group that target the Khans to be hostages and arranged you to fight Shocker the same who are going after these other Inhumans. Even without your personal situation, we would have had you come with us both your protection and hopefully as a way to go after these people,” Captain America explained, making it clear this was not a charity case, this was a mission for them.

“Best case scenario you’re our bait, worse case you get a safe place sort out your problems away from BS reporters and who knows what else hounding you. By the way, do we call you Ms. Marvel or do we get to know who is under the mask?” Hawkeye finished, though Kamala was unsure if the part about her being bait or the mask was what got her attention more.

“When said it was just going to be just you guys you meant....” Kamala started to ask, looking between Iron Man and Captain America who nodded in confirmation.

“Just Cap and I know who you are; anyone else is up to you. Unlike what you might think, you are not our prisoner. We have put all these ‘punishments’ on you to keep things simple, so just ride this out. You’ll be ‘Embiggening’ to your heart’s content in no time. Assuming you want to be Ms. Marvel once things get sorted out,” Iron Man assured Kamala, who was at least feeling less confined...just little but at least she kept hearing something that implied she would see the light at the end of this dark tunnel...hopefully.

“Time to be bait then,” Kamala said with a sad smile before looking downward, getting her hair ruffled by Iron Man and a pat on the back from Captain America, but the only Natasha saw a darker smile form on the girl’s face.

‘Is she bait or just waiting for the prey to come to her?’ The spy/hero thought, not liking where this could be going.


	3. To Heal or Prepare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The now former Ms. Marvel is safely at Avengers Tower, though is more a guest or a prisoner? As she settles in, Kamala must now start to face her foes from both without and within. More importantly, will those keeping an eye on her be among said foes or her only allies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoy chapter 3, please let me know what you think

Chapter 3 – To Heal or Preparing

The trip to Avengers Tower was pretty short by quinjet, but it was still almost midnight when they arrived. Combined with all the moments of intense emotion, both good and bad, Kamala was mentally exhausted. So much so tried to turn down the offer for food in desperate attempt to avoid the substance she still had mixed feeling on, but it was like the Avengers could see right through her.

They made her eat the vegetable stew Natasha had gotten from the fridge, at least that keeping Kamala from having to explain some of her limitations when it came to food when it didn’t disgust her.

She was grateful it was not big meal, though given how they had made sure she ate, Kamala knew meals would be a war of how much she wanted to put down, compared to what her heroes expected.

At least she was surprised they had given her room on the same floor as others, it was bigger her old one by about half with a desk at one wall and bed with a nightstand across from the desk and a closet on the farthest wall from the door. There was also a connecting small bathroom, consisting of a toilet, sink and a shower. The one odd was it had no window, which scared her at first until Captain America spoke up.

“This is not a cell, I assure you Ms. Marvel. We don’t know who is after you, so we need make sure they can’t target you in a place we want you to feel safe and have privacy....and it would not be the first time we had people try to use camera drones get a look at the Avengers, so I can imagine there being a few trying to get peek at Ms. Marvel with her mask off,” The red white blue themed hero assured the rookie heroine, which did partially relieve her fears that this was just a nice looking prison.

“So even if I do tell everyone who I am, I should keep wearing the mask?” Kamala asked nervously, not liking the idea someone getting a clear shot of her face at the wrong moment.

“I’m unsure what to suggest in the long term but I highly recommend for at least keeping it on when out of this room for at least the next few weeks, let things settle down and hopefully something else draw the attention of the news channels,” Captain America advised, understanding her nervousness. He was a public hero, as was the rest of Avengers, but Kamala did not have that luxury. Plus he would not be surprise if there was still a part of girl that believed the room was cell after they had to make her give up much what made her feel like a hero.

With that, the Captain bid the teenager goodnight and allowed her to finally have peace after a very hectic day. She needed sleep, even if she knew what going to happen once she closed her eyes.

-

The flames where waiting for her, as they had the last couple of nights in her dreams, this time in a large circle. The accusing voice her parents had also returned, tearing to ferocity that brought girl to her knees.

“You must be pleased; our deaths let you meet some of your heroes!” The voice her Abu accused, while Kamala once again fought with her mask, though this time she wearing the gray sweat pants and the black t-shirt with the lightning bolt that Sheikh Abdullah had given her, over her red, blue and yellow costume.

“Such a disgraceful child as well, one that can’t even keep her word about giving up her title by clinging to that symbol and mask. She even wants Kamala’s bracelet!” the voice of her Ammi added, said lightning bolt to glow and burn at Kamala’s chest.

“Please stop! I promise I am Kamala!” The poor girl cried out, wishing the mask come off so should prove whop she was or least for the lightning bolt to stop burning her!

“No you’re not! You’re not even me!” a voice from behind her stated, hers but more confident and strong. Much like she was when she was in costume.

Kamala scrambled to feet despite the pain and turned to face the voice and found herself, to be more specific her Ms. Marvel persona in full costume and her hands on hips and projecting an aura of strength what Kamala hoped she was able to do when she was in that position.

“What do you mean? We are the same person!” Kamala screamed back, and drew her left fist back to prove who she was still Ms. Marvel.

“Embiggen!” Kamala called out, only find nothing happening. Her fist did not grow in size; her arm did not extend beyond its normal reach, her powers just refused to activate. Then her arm suddenly felt heavier, making Kamala look at her wrist to see the nullifier now there.

Ms. Marvel just snorted in disgust, before drawing her own arm back before calling out, “Embiggen!”

With ease the arm of Ms. Marvel grew to inhuman lengths and fist grew to the size of basketball, slamming into Kamala’s stomach and sending her flying to edge of the ring of fire.

As Kamala tried get even breath after getting the wind knocked out of her by the punch, so she was helpless as her other self slowly grew in size of an 8 foot tall giant and raised her foot up above Kamala.

“Get lost pretender! This is for killing Khans and me!” The giant Ms. Marvel said coldly, before bringing her foot down on Kamala’s helpless form.

-

“No!” Kamala screamed out, grabbing at both her chest and stomach expecting there to be pain. Upon finding none, she took the t-shirt off and still found no marks or bruises. This did not stop her from throwing the shirt across the room in fear, thinking the lightning bolt would actually start to burn her.

Looking around, Kamala at first was confused why she was in an actual bed but then remembered where she was. She was a guest at Avengers Tower, while they looked into the group that was targeting her.

Kamala climbed out of the bed and headed for the bathroom to shower, wanting wash the sweat from her body since the closest thing she had getting a proper washing was in the wudu room last night.

A hot shower relaxing and was what she needed, muscles that had been tense from the nightmares finally started to loosen and the girl could let her mind focus the water flowing down her body and sound of it hitting the floor rather than on the memory of the flames or the voices.

Her moment of peace was ended when a robotic male voice spoke from all around her, _“Ms. Marvel, I’m told to inform you breakfast is almost ready.”_

Kamala response was what she thought would be normal for any teenage girl in the shower....scream like she was being murdered and covered her naked form as best she could with just her arms.

_“I assure you screaming is not necessary Ms. Marvel, I am Jarvis, an AI developed by Mr. Stark run tower functions and provide assistance both on site and on missions”_ the voice replied again, only to make Kamala freak out even more.

“Just go away!” Kamala screamed again, grabbing a towel to hide her naked body, while voice acknowledged and went silent.

Thinking she was alone again, she dried herself rapidly and then put her sweat pants back on and after a moment put the t-shirt on again. Nightmare or not telling her she was unworthy it, the lightning bolt still made her feel more like herself.

Once dressed and masked again, Kamala stormed out of the room growling out, “Where is Stark?”

She had been expecting nothing, but to her shock the Jarvis answered, _“In the kitchen, Ms. Marvel”_

“Is he in his armor?” Kamala asked through gritted teeth, getting a negative from the disembodied voice. Hearing this made her start running towards what she remembered was way to kitchen/living room like area they brought her through last night.

Upon arriving, she found her target leaning up against the counter having a coffee and was about to saying something to her when she screamed out, “You pervert!”

All hell broke loose after that, mainly due to her charged into the room with the intent of punching the man in the face as best she could without her powers, but within seconds found herself dangling in midair when something grabbed her by the back of her shirt. Despite this she in vain began kicking and punching in Tony’s general direction but he stayed out of reach.

Mean while Captain America and Hawkeye, who wearing in more casual clothing rather than their costumes, along with woman Kamala did not recognize where right in Tony’s face demanding know what the teenager was talking about, Kamala making change her to whatever had her hand hanging in mid air by swinging a wild punch....and feel like she just hit a brick wall.

“FUDGE!” Kamala cried out as she nursed her hand, her in grained habit of not swearing due to her parents strict methods keeping her from using the f-bomb and drawing attention from everyone in room again.

“A teenager who doesn’t swear...thought those where a myth,” Tony tried to joke, but the glare from the unknown woman shut him up before turned back and spoke in Kamala’s direction.

“Thor, put her down...slowly, then we hear what Tony did this time assuming Ms. Marvel does not try to attack him again,” The redheaded woman with freckles instructed, making the teen look to at what she punched and saw the blond haired god of thunder looking at her with a raised eyebrow and almost seemed amused while lightly rubbing his jaw with his other hand.

Before Thor could even begin to put her down though, Kamala yelled out, “He had the creepy robot voice thing watching me in the shower!”

The room went dead silent, until slowly everyone but Kamala started laughing, though she was finally lowered back down to the ground.

“I see you met Jarvis, don’t worry there are no cameras in the private quarters...or that better still be the case Toney!” The still unknown redhead replied, glancing at Tony warningly at the last part.

“Phone a man named Sheikh Abdullah if you ever find Tony did do that,” Steve commented casually, going back to drinking how own coffee while Tony went pale at hearing the name, while the woman raised an eyebrow.

“What did you do now Tony?” The redhead asked, her eyes narrowing.

“Absolutely nothing Pepper!” Tony said defensively, hoping no one would mention....

“He grabbed me by the front of my costume and lifted me off the ground before yelling at me,” Kamala cut in, promptly seeing the one called Pepper start to get as red in the face as she on the top of her head, when Steve chimed in again.

“Before that, I also had Ms. Marvel nearly calmed down so we could talk and he came crashing down like a comet; had her scared so much she passed out while thinking she needed to crawl to safety,” Steve explained calmly, already handing the Sheikh’s number on a card to the redhead.

“I’ll put it in my contacts....I’ll see you in two hours for your meeting Mr. Stark,” Pepper stated primly, before walking out the room.

“What is with all the noise, too early to be this loud,” a gruff voice stated and Kamala turned to see the giant green form of the Hulk who was followed by Natasha in a pair of sweats and muscle shirt, clearly looking like she had just been working out.

“Probably blame the new girl,” The spy/heroine replied getting a prompt ‘hey!’ in protest from said teen.

“Blame Tony if anything was burned,” Clint/Hawkeye called out, getting a protest from the billionaire like Kamala just had.

Breakfast had been a simple thing, scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast. A normal breakfast for most people, but not for Kamala who was praying no one would notice she left the bacon and could clear her plate quickly.

“Finish your plate soldier, I can understand you might not wanting to eat but you need to,” Steve casually called out as the young girl had tried to slip away towards the trash can.

“T-t-that’s not why...” Kamala tried to explain, but Tony spoke up, possibly out of revenge for earlier.

“Cap out ranks you kid, finish the food,” where the business man’s words, ones that made the practising Muslim panic. Unlike some of the kids at school who might make fun her for not being able to do certain things, she had more faith that the two men were simply just repeating the process that had done with the stew last night.

“If it’s the bacon you referring to, it’s considered taboo in her faith to have pork. She has other restrictions but pork is simply an outright no to eat, that was why I had the veggie stew in the fridge” Natasha/Black Window said calmly, not even looking up from her own plate. This made Kamala breathe a sigh relief that at least someone already knew.

After hearing this Tony had whipped out his phone and typed something in while Steve looked to Kamala with an apologetic expression on his face.

“I’m surprised you where the one most aware of Ms. Marvel’s faith Window, you where the one who protested her being here,” Thor spoke up, make Kamala go tense as she now looked at Natasha in shock, while everyone else looked at Thor in annoyance.

“Anyway....Stretch come with me, I wanted to go some stuff with you before the whole incident with getting scared by Jarvis....also we’ll sort out the whole meal issue, think you can put up with us as we iron out the details?” Toney asked, trying to get the girl’s mind Thor’s slip of the tongue.

“Um...sure...” Kamala replied, as he Tony led her out of the room once they put her plate away...and Tony snatched the bacon for his own.

-

A bit later, Toney and Kamala where in his lab, at first he mainly asking her questions about her grades and hobbies but then moved onto things he noticed about her costume when he got it under a scanner.

“I noticed it had this substance coating, took awhile figure out what it did but got say I’m impressed, how you come across this stuff?” Tony asked, his inventor side taking over and clearly wanted know more about the special polymer that was helping the young heroine when using her powers.

“Oh my friend Bruno invented it; he is....the other boy in the hospital along with my brother. He was...is....hoping it will help with a school he is applying for. Kind surprised I hadn’t lost most of it since I’ve been living in the sewers for so long,” Kamala answered as best could, clearly sad at the memory of her friend’s current state.

“Water not good for it I take?” Tony asked, just as much to change the topic for her as he was curious.

“Yeah, it getting wet makes the costume easier to damage; super snot really does not like water,” Kamala answered, forgetting she called the polymer by its nickname and needed to do a retake of what she said to figure out why Tony Stark started laughing.

“Interesting code name for this stuff Stretch, can imagine people’s reaction if that was on any the official papers,” The billionaire said as he calmed down, then reached onto the cluttered table and pulled out a familiar bracelet.

“I believe we promised this back...though in my opinion, you might want to consider a replacement option once you get cleared to be allowed on the street again. If that thing is pretty much an heirloom for your family, then it’s really not made to take the kind of pounding the hero life puts us through,” Tony advised, while watching Kamala slip it onto her right arm since the nullifier had taken its spot on the left.

“What would it take for to be ‘cleared’? Kamala asked, not sure exactly what she needed to do since she technically had not be charged and arrested so what did the legal system want from her to let her go back to being Jersey City’s vigilante?

Tony had sigh at that question, knowing it was not exactly a cut and dry scenario.

“To be honest Kamala, unless you went public identity like we have, it might take awhile. In eyes guys like the DA from last night, they think you’re unstable superhuman rather than a grieving daughter because they don’t have that context. We can back you once we think you progress dealing with your parents’ death, but that’s not something that can be measured easily,” Tony explained as best he could, but there was not much that could make the topic easy to hear.

Kamala had look downward upon hearing all that, thinking it could be years before Ms. Marvel could get back to Jersey. She had gotten so used to being it’s ‘protector’ but she felt like she was letting it down. True it never felt like a warzone of crime, but that did not change that fact that to her, it felt like she had left the city defenceless....despite knowing that was more than a bit arrogant on her part.

Tony seeing the lowering moral in the girl before him, he looked around and saw an old device that might do the trick and quickly picked it up to make some adjustments.

“Seeing how I interrupted your chance to get your hands on the original, how about you take this for a test drive,” Tony said after he finished his alteration to the wrist device in his hands and tossed it over to a confused Kamala, who eyes brightened after getting a good look.

“An energy shield....” The superhero fan girl whispered, all her times on forums and running a few of them, she knew the design from various pictures she had seen in the past.

“Well a locked down one at least, the shield mode should be safe enough but don’t want you accidently triggering one of the other configurations by accident and hurting yourself. Take it to the training room and toss it around for bit, Jarvis can tell you the way,” Tony said with a smirk, knowing the little ‘toy’ should get girl’s mind off all this dark stuff for a bit.

“Oh I know the way, memorized the tower layout from all the floor plans on the internet,” Kamala called back as she ran out of the lab, leaving a smirking Toney....until he realized what the teenager just said and quickly ordered Jarvis to begin a search for the leaked floor plans so he could scrub the internet of the very dangerous information.

-

For an hour, Kamala had let herself just be a kid again as she very badly threw the energy shield at various holographic rings Jarvis created in the grey square room. Every so often she pretend she was hitting invisible foes with her fist before aiming for the next ring and missing, then brace herself as the energy shield returned to the emitter on her right wrist.

“Having fun?” the voice Steve Rogers asked from behind her, his voice clearly sounding amused.

Kamala spun around looking very embarrassed and trying stammer out an explanation of why she had the energy shield, but the captain just waved her off.

“Don’t worry soldier, Tony already let me know just in case I walked in on you while you were throwing that thing around. Though I have to ask, is that how you throw a punch normally?” Steve asked, he now seemed more like he disapproved of something she had done.

“Um yes? Though would normally be using my powers at the same time, but for most part I think the rest is the same,” Kamala replied feeling nervous and trying figure out what she did wrong.

Steve gestured for Kamala to follow; only making the depowered Inhuman feel more worried but obeyed in hope of not upsetting the Captain further.

A short while later they were in the gym, specifically the punching bag where Steve asked Kamala to take off the energy shield emitter and put on the gloves he handed her. Next he did was get make her go into a basic boxing stance before walking her through how to jab...which made it click why he was upset.

“Wait....you are fine with me tossing an energy shield around very badly, but you get mad because you think I can’t punch something? I’ve beaten giant robots with how I punch!” Kamala complained in annoyance, thinking this was stupid.

Steve just raised an eyebrow at this and then pointed to ring, “You want to prove it or learn how to actually punch.”

Kamala raised her left arm up to show the nullifier and in a dry tone asked, “My punches worked with my powers, how am I supposed to prove it without them?”

“My point exactly, you have clearly been relying too much on brute force and improvised methods to get by so far; but with what I can show you, you’ll be much more effective. When you need to heal, you’ll have options that can help you defend yourself until you’re done and when alter your body your attacks will be more effective,” Steve countered, noting the teen did not seem believe him but noticed her looked between the ring and the bag and lined up with the bag.

‘Stubborn but not crazy I see,” Steve mused internally, then went back instructing the young heroine on how to jab, no knowing Black Window had been watching them closely from the entrance of the gym, not looking pleased.

-

By the time it was 1pm Kamala’s arms were sore from learning the basic punches to boxing, dreading the fact the Steve seemed to be implying this was NOT a onetime thing. The evidence for this being when he started going over the cardio and weight training program that would be added in....tomorrow morning!

“I thought heroes were supposed to be the good guys....your more evil then the Inventor!” Kamala grumbled accursedly, as she followed the Captain back to what the Avengers treated as the living room/kitchen of tower.

Steve just smirked at the comment; he knew the teenager would thank him once she realized the results. Plus he hoped help in Kamala in her recovery, it would not make the grief and pain disappear but it would still be a distraction so those issues where not her sole focus.

Upon entering the living area, Kamala froze at the sight several pizza boxes laid out....they were going to make her eat....why did they keep making her eat, she wanted to stop eating! She not did care if she felt hungry, she did not want food!

But despite feeling this way, she forced herself to go over and take a few slices from a veggie pizza box they literally put a ‘Ms. Marvel’s’ name tag on. Kamala could appreciate the thought behind that, though the Kamala who could eat without wanting to puke would have loved something that did not make her feel like a rabbit.

“Survived Cap’s boot camp I see, whatever you do don’t get into the ring with him!” Tony joked, laughing when he got glared at by the masked girl.

“Is anyone stupid enough to even do that?” Kamala asked, as she took bite of her pizza, not realizing she made Tony flinch since Steve did get him into the ring before....and Tony pretty much only remembered wondering why he was looking up at the ceiling moments later.

“Yeah Tony, who would be stupid enough to do that?” Clint asked smugly, while Hulk and Thor laughed at man who was normally seen as the smartest in room made to look foolish by the child and she had not even intended to.

Before Tony could come up with a way to save face, Natasha spoke up that shocked the room into silence, “You should not be training her Steve, at least until she tells you what she is hiding.”

“That’s enough Natasha! Ms. Marvel is our only lead into whatever is happening with those other missing Inhuman cases, if we are getting something from her the least we can do is give something back!” Steve shot back, glaring at the lethal redhead across from him.

“And a teen hiding something, what shock?! The kid is here for her own safety, not to spill every little detail about herself!” Clint added, not understanding what problem his friend and co-worker from S.H.I.E.D. had with the former superhero.

Before anyone could say anything else Kamala promptly stood up and screamed out, “She’s right, I am hiding something! I’m hiding the fact the mere sight of food makes me feel sick, but you people keep making me eat it!”

With that, Kamala ran out of the room ignoring if any the new shouting was directed at her or someone else, she just wanted to be left alone so she headed for place that had been designated as ‘hers’.

Once there, she went to the garbage bags that held her things and tore them open until she found her Captain Marvel plushy and then curled up into a ball in the bed, for once not crying but still shook like a leaf.

Kamala did not know how long she had been lying there, but it must had been while since she was pretty sure she had reached some kind of middle ground between sleep and being awake when a knock at the door made her shoot up to a sitting position.

“Ms. Marvel, can I come in?” a female voice from the other side of the door, one that did not belong to Natasha Romanova, it was the other woman’s...Pepper’s Kamala thought her name was.

“Yes?” Kamala asked hesitantly, not sure what to do since saying seemed like a non option given how she did not belong here.

As the nicer redhead came into the room, Kamala tried to smile politely... until she saw the plate pizza in her hand.

“I’m not here to make you eat Ms. Marvel, the others just want you to have the option to have something if you want to without....risking you running into Natasha until we can sort that issue out,” Pepper quickly explained in a reassuring tone, before putting the plate on the desk and then went to sit on the bed alongside the masked girl.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Pepper asked, being the go between Ms. Marvel and the Avengers since no one was sure who would be best to approach the girl on her outburst.

“I-I don’t want to but...it’s just that getting food was the first thing on my mind after the fight time I fought Shocker...if I had gone straight there, they might still alive,” Kamala explained, praying maybe if Pepper told the Avengers her story, maybe they would let her eat when she wanted to...if she ever wanted to.

“I’m confused; did you go to the battle hungry or was there another reason?” Pepper asked, not knowing how Kamala’s powers worked.

“I can heal fast but at a price, doing it a lot can leave me weak...hungry...push it too far and even my other powers just stop working,” Kamala explained, feeling ashamed that she was making excuses to why she failed to do her job right.

“Didn’t Shocker get a solid hit in on you that first time right?” Pepper asked, starting to see what was going on. As expected, her question was answer with simple nod from the now trembling girl who seemed to be waiting some kind judgement from the older woman.

“Could you have won if you went right away?” Pepper asked, clearly shocked that was next thing she heard rather being yelled at or some other kind of reprimand for putting her stomach ahead of innocent lives.

“It doesn’t matter! I was supposed to save them and my first thoughts where to find a halal cart so I could get some hotdogs! I’m supposed be a hero but...” Kamala started scream out, but was cut when Pepper’s arms slammed down on her shoulders and looked right into the teenager’s eyes.

“And by your own admission you would have lost because you would have been already weakened and then who knows what would have happened to you or the Khan’s!” Pepper scolded, knowing the girl was letting guilt cloud her thoughts on what the matter.

Kamala words failed her, so she let her actions be her response and did what she did with Iron Man and took off her mask. Kamala had been expecting to see Pepper’s face take on a look of disgust or get shoved away, but instead was pulled into older woman’s embrace.

“You did nothing wrong, please stop hurting yourself like this...they would have wanted you doing this,” Pepper whispered soothingly, while girl finally broke down sobbing.

“Then why don’t they say that in my dreams?” Kamala’s muffled voice asked, making Pepper’s eyes widen and gently push Kamala away and then raise her chin to make eye contact.

“You’ve been having nightmares haven’t you? Have you been able to a full night sleep since that night?” The freckled woman asked, getting a shake head from the teen.

“Try to get some now then, we will help you though this Kamala. Tony is actually working on something that will give us a starting point,” Pepper promised, then gently made the girl lay down before turning the light off to the room. It was only 5pm, but if Kamala was not getting much rest, then poor girl needed to at least try get some of her strength back where she could.

Kamala wordlessly obeyed the instruction and hugged her plushy tight, praying it could take the place of person it was modeled after and protect her from the terrors that had awaited her every time she closed her eyes.

-

As Pepper walked down the hall, near Kamala’s room, she saw Natasha leaning against the wall like she was waiting for her.

“I don’t know what you’re planning Natasha, but leave Ms. Marvel alone. She has enough on her plate without one of the people she admires hounding her!” Pepper warned, even though she knew she was of no threat to trained spy and hero.

“She wants something we can’t let her have Pepper, she needs to be somewhere she can heal like New Attilan or even with her relatives in Karachi, not here playing house,” Natasha replied coolly, making Pepper gasp.

“You spied on us! She has a right to....” Pepper started say, thinking Black Widow had dared to see intrude on the one space Kamala could take her mask off without fear.

“I knew who she was before Tony or Steven did, I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. remember?” Natasha countered, before walking away and leaving furious Pepper behind.

-

Kamala was once again was in the ring of fire, fighting her other self while the voices of her parents continued to barrage her with words like failure, disgrace, pretender, thief and murderer.

Her only advantage was the energy shield was with her this time, so she could at least block the incoming fists that where big enough to smash her whole body. To make matter worse, Ms. Marvel was attacking from the middle of the room, while Kamala was being kept at the edge of the fire wall, meaning what little she learned from Captain America that morning was useless.

“I see you quickly replaced me, hoping to make fewer mistakes as Ms. America now?” Ms. Marvel mocked, quickly switching tactics and let her fists get smaller and snake around the shield to grab the arm holding it.

“No don’t!” Kamala screamed as the emitter and her bracelet where torn from her wrist and tossed aside like a pieces of trash.

“Oh did you lose more toys?” her Abu’s spoke out, as Ms. Marvel kept hold of Kamala’s arm and swung her through the ring of fire, letting the flames burn her as she spun.

“Such a shame!” her Ammi’s added with a wicked laugh, while Kamala continued to scream as she burned alive.

-

“Aaaaaahhhhh!” Kamala screamed as she shot up from under the covers, breathing heavily and looking at her body trying to find the flames that believed should still be there. Her eyes then fell on the bracelet on her right arm and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Can’t they let me sleep for at least one night?’ Kamala whispered, getting out of bed and grabbing the shield emitter and strapping to feel a little safer. It might not have been able save her in the dream, but it was still kept her from being one shot.

Kamala then made her way to gym to start mindlessly wale on the punching bag, she did not care about the things she learned the previous day, she just wanted hit something after being pummeled in her own dreams.

“Pretty sure that’s not what Cap showed you,” A voice that makes Kamala’s blood run cold spoke up from behind her, making spin around so fast she lost her balance and started to fall but was caught by Natasha before she hit the ground.

Natasha looked she was about to say something, but Kamala pulled away as soon as she was certain her balance was back and quickly stepped back until she was up against the bag.

“I’m not the enemy Ms. Khan, I’m trying to help...your mask is there, I just have access to S.H.I.E.D. Intel. They knew who you where in less than a week of you making your public appearance as the new Ms. Marvel,” Natasha explained calmly as she watched the teen reach for her face.

“How, by telling me how much you hate me and want me gone? You think this how I wanted to be here, under house arrest/witness protection instead of it being for some epic team-up!” Kamala demanded, getting a raised eyebrow from Natasha.

“Dreams of grandeur I take it?” Natasha said almost jokingly, a slight smirk forming. The girl clearly must have had fantasies of working with them in the past.

“Dreams...I wish I still had those...all I got left is nightmares and maybe the small hope I can go back to Jersey without needing to stuff the costume in box and never looking at it again,” Kamala responded sadly, looking down since she did not want to meet the gaze of the Black Widow.

“Are they what are telling you to go after your parents’ killers or is that just on you?” Natasha pressed, trying to get inside the girl’s head and maybe find out what the darker smile on the quinjet truly meant.

“If I don’t then when will it end? I failed to save them and now they won’t let me sleep!” Kamala demanded, clearly the lack of sleep clearly effect the way logic worked in her mind right now.

“But are they the ones demanding you to avenge them?” Natasha pressed a second time, knowing getting the teen to focus was going to be a challenge.

“No...but what else can I do? Why else would they call me those things and what will make them stop!” Kamala cried out, before falling knees.

“I just want them to stop hating me...even if I was a terrible daughter I...it hurts so much!” Girl pleaded, hoping the older woman had some kind of advise that help her find the answers she desperately needed.

“Did you ever think being with people who care for you might help? You have family in Karachi, if not that then Medusa would have Lockjaw here in an instant to bring you to New Attilan if Cap had not spent hours convincing her that Avenger’s Tower would be ideal keep you safe and lure your attackers out of hiding,” Natasha told Kamala, kneeling down to look the girl in the eyes.

“But Medusa must be mad at me, I haven’t seen Lockjaw since we defeated the Inventor and Karachi...I love my Naani but...how would I explain everything...I killed her daughter because I was selfish! How could I face her after that?!” Kamala cried out, but stopped when she felt Natasha pull her into a hug.

“Medusa is on your side, Lockjaw needed to heal a bit but more importantly she needed him for royal business. I think she assumed things would be quiet now that the Inventor was gone or she would have had him nearby. As for your grandmother, I understand you being confused on family matters right now but I’m certain we can work something out if you need a cover story until you’re ready to tell anyone anything. What you don’t need is to be focused on the ones who are actually at fault for all this; that’s our job. Yours is to grieve and heal and once that is done decide what you want to do,” Natasha explained, her voice now gently and kind much different from cool and calculating tones she had often used previously.

“So that was why you did not want her here. Maybe next time lead with that rather than the one liners of ‘she shouldn’t be here’ stuff,” Tony’s voice cut in, making both woman look to the gym entrance to see the billionaire looking tired and holding a cup of coffee.

Natasha stood up quickly, before offering her hand to Kamala, who took it and got the girl back to her feet.

With a gesture of her head, Natasha signaled Kamala to head out of room and was surprised to see the teenager did so without question, leaving only the two Avengers in the gym.

After moment of silence, Tony asked, “Was that all you or was it a message from S.H.I.E.D.?”

“Both, she is too young to have blood on her hands...even if she thinks they are already stained,” Natasha replied, praying Kamala would ask to leave once she had a chance to think her advice over.

“She won’t do it you know, she blames herself too much. Even we do everything we can to stop her, she’ll hold onto that 1% chance she’ll get her shot at the bastards,” Tony stated simple after a second moment of silence.

“That’s what I’m afraid of”

-

Kamala had tried to sleep again, but at best she dozed at little by the time Steve came knocking at her door at 5am a few hours later.

As a groggy Kamala sat up, Steven came in holding a large plastic cup of something and handed it to her.

“Pepper told us everything, so we need to reach a middle ground on food. No one here is going watch you starve yourself, especially if I’m going to help you with those sloppy punches of yours; you never should exercise when low on energy,” Steve told his young charge, teasing her with the last part and ruffling her hair.

Kamala gave him a little glare then looked down at the cup to see it purplish colored mixture and made her realize it was a protein shake like the ones he had given her at the mosque. After taking a second to think it over, took a drink and out of reflex tried to stretch her arm out to go for a slice of pizza on the desk on other side of the room, only to be reminded she was just regular girl right now.

Steve laughed before getting the plate for her and watched her eat. He was certain this was going to a be a hard balance to strike up, but at least for the moment there was something in Kamala’s system and it was more willing terms compared to previous meals.

“Did Natasha or Mr. Stark tell you anything?” Kamala quietly, not meeting the older hero’s gaze.

“They didn’t need to; I suspected you might want something like that. Don’t forget, I fought in the second world war I have seen people suffer loss and have felt it as well....being a hero does make you immune to the feeling that many think are ‘unbecoming’ of one. Thinking you need to not feel anger, fear or other negative emotions is the wrong mindset, what you need to do accept those feelings and just not let them drive you to something you will regret,” The former soldier advised, as Kamala finished her meal.

“You make it sound so simple,” Kamala replied climbing out of bed so she and Steve could head for the gym.

“It’s not, nothing worth the effort ever is,” Steve told his new student, making their way down the hall for boxing boot camp.


	4. Good Cop or Bad Cop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala still adjusting to life at Avengers Tower, now faces off against Black Widow who seems to be supportive at one moment and confrontational the next. Will the duo be able to work together when the other Avengers are away and someone who invades the tower, someone possibly hired to go after Ms. Marvel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 4, with my own twist on a certain character's 4th wall breaking for a bit of humor and a shameless 'cameo' in my own story lol!

Chapter 4 – Bad or Good Cop?

Kamala had to drag herself towards the kitchen, her body sore all over this time given how Steve’s training this time around included weights and cardio on top of working on her foot work and punches.

“This has nothing to do with how I punch; this is just your evil scheme to make me eat!” Kamala stated with a glare, but just got a smirk from the Captain.

“Nope, you just punch that badly it hurts to watch, if it gets you to eat then that is a bonus,” Steve teased, knowing the girl needed the motivation if she was going to improve. He could tell the teen was not an athlete, not out of shape obviously, but clearly not used to actual training.

“If I could lift my arms right now...” Kamala grumbled, but her veiled threat just made her teacher raise an eyebrow and keep smirking.

Upon entering the kitchen/living room, Kamala saw all of the Avengers except the Hulk present the smell of eggs and sausage filling the room. Hawkeye put a small plate of sunny side up eggs and toast on the counter as the girl got close, clearly implying it was for her.

“Thank you,” Kamala accepted, knowing she had to eat the small potions to avoid the pressure of previous days’ attempts. At least small portions would be easier to handle then full meals.

“How was day two of training with Captain America?” Tony teased, getting a glare from Kamala who tried to lift her left arm up get him to focus on the nullifier.

“I want my +10 to healing back!” Kamala wined, her gaming reference going over most of the Avengers heads, but got the general idea of what she meant.

“Sorry kiddo that would just mean Cap would push you harder,” Tony replied, giving the former solider a glance, whom just widen his smirk into a grin.

“Your all evil doppelgangers who have clearly have replaced the real Avengers,” Kamala grumbled as she sat down on the couch in the living room portion of the room so she could eat.

No one had a chance to continue the tease the petite depowered heroine, due to the ground shaking at each stomp of what must have been the Hulk approaching, who poked his head in the room and looked around until his gaze fell on Kamala.

Hulk promptly marched over to the small girl, who looked around for help but everyone just kept eating.

Upon closing gap, Hulk leaned in close and growled out, “I heard something yesterday I know you have the answer for and you will tell me, got it?”

Kamala promptly nodded head in a rapid motion, all the while praying to Allah for salvation since she had no idea what she did to anger the big green giant.

“Good...now tell me why...why would you kill Rainbow Toots?! Why not Mossy Spring or Pinkie Sprinkles?!” The Hulk demanded, making room go silent until Toney and Clint burst out laughing while Natasha and Steve face palmed like they all did on the quinjet that night they brought Kamala to the tower. Thor was only one trying to figure out what was going on.

“No one liked those two; I needed readers to care about the care the character that died,” Kamala squeaked out, hoping that would save her from Hulk’s wrath.

“Is this about one of those fimfictions you read?” Thor asked, drinking some coffee while both Hulk and Kamala snapped their heads in his direction.

“Fanficition!” The both yelled at the Asgardian, who just shrugged like he was saying ‘Was that not what I said?’

“If I had my powers I’d say we rush him before he gets the hammer,” Kamala grumbled, while Hulk looked down at the nullifier on her arm with a smirk.

“You mean the ones you would have if not for this,” The Hulk said as he put the device between his thumb and finger like he was about to squeeze it between them, all the while Thor was grinning and cracking his knuckles.

“Do make it a challenge this time friend Hulk if you are bringing her into our bouts now,” Thor stated, while the others all jumps to their feet to keep Hulk from repowering Kamala, who looked almost giddy at the idea. Fights between Hulk and Thor where normal, having Ms. Marvel jumping in was what they wanted to avoid...she probably end up a permanent pancake even with her healing factor, let alone the fact she was ‘under house arrest’.

“That will be enough, all of you!” The firm voice of Pepper Potts stated, entering the room during this lovely bit of chaos.

She glanced and Thor and Hulk and point to two spots in the room far from each other before saying, “You two stay there until your done eating and then take what round this is elsewhere!”

This just made the two power houses rolls their eyes and do it to humor the woman, while she turned her attention to Kamala, who was much more easily shaken by the look.

“As for you, don’t encourage them! Tony might not care about repairing the building on a daily bases, but I rather not have more things added to my list of things to do today, do I make myself clear young lady?” Pepper continued her lecture, getting a rapid nod of confirmation from the teenager.

“Good, now eat your breakfast because you got school in thirty minutes,” The redheaded assistant ordered, which had the teen starting to eat only to have her head shoot back a few moments later going, “What?”

-

‘School’ was done by a computer that had not been in her room until this morning, apparently part of the reason Tony had so casually asked about her grades like he was making small talk was to get Kamala’s opinion on where she stood and compare to what he saw when hacked her school and got the official records.

From that, he and Pepper spent much of their free time yesterday setting things up with the online school

“Depowered, unmasked and now I’m not allowed to wallow in self-pity all day?” Kamala responded dryly, not adding things like losing her family, friends and old life out of an attempt to shield herself from pain and hiding a behind being a smartass so others could not see it.

She was failing miserably at both.

“That’s why you’re doing this, I know it’s been only a short while but it’s not healthy focus on things like that nonstop, plus life sadly does not get put on hold until you’re ready,” Pepper explained firmly, still being the ‘parent’ in the building. Though it was refreshing it actually was for someone who was supposed to be a child for a change.

“Please stop trying to replace my Ammi,” Kamala shot back, sounding harsher than she had intended and regretted it when she saw the pained expression on Pepper’s face.

“I’m not trying to replace her Kamala, but someone needs to help keep you on track and while Steve...or even Natasha when she is not doing...whatever she is doing...can carry out that role, I think you need someone is not a superhero doing it. It certainly keeps Toney grounded to an extent,” Pepper replied, then left the room for as calmly she could while Kamala tried make to her mouth work so she could apologize but failed.

Back in the hallway, Pepper increased her pace to get some distance between her and Kamala room. She was by no means even close to breaking down and crying but Kamala snapping at her did hurt a bit, plus Pepper had to admit finding the right balance of helping Kamala without ‘stealing’ her mother’s place was going be challenge.

“You okay Pepper?” Tony asked, finding his assistant as he was making his way back to his lab to work.

“Yes, just...learning my boundaries with a girl who just lost her parents,” Pepper replied sadly, making Toney glance down the hall towards a certain teenager’s room.

“Too much of the ‘Keep Tony in Line’ voice?” he asked, part of him understanding why Kamala might responds harshly but at the same time the kid needed to know she did have limits on how far she can go off.

“Let her be for now Tony...this was never going to be easy and we all knew it going in. None of us are parents and defiantly not councillors so finding out what where we can draw the line is going to be hard,” Pepper sighed out, finally shaking off the shock of Kamala’s verbal attack.

“Wonder if this is part of reason why Natasha tried to talk Kamala into leaving last night,” Tony wondered aloud, forgetting he had not told Pepper of that just yet.

“She what?” Pepper said dangerously, making Tony hold up his hands in a calming manner.

“Natasha just pointed out things we did not think of, she was not forcing Stretch to go anywhere...though makes me wonder if Steve and I made the right call now that I think about it...but...” Tony started to say, but Pepper could guess why he stopped.

“You think it’s too late now that we have her here?” Pepper finished, getting a nod from her boss.

“Yeah, we need her if we are going to find those targeting the other Inhumans, as wrong as it is, she’s what will hopefully lure them in so we can put a stop to this mess and actually let kid have the peace she needs...this seemed so much simpler in the planning phase” Tony admitted as he kept looking towards Kamala’s room

“We got something you did not have during the planning phase though, maybe that can help us as much as her?” Pepper offered, though had told back a laugh as Tony visibly shivered at the thoughts of what Pepper was referring to.

-

Once her schooling was done for the day, Kamala had gone most common place people seem to gather in the Avenger’s HQ, the living room. She was still kind of surprised this was more like home then a base, though given what she learned from the internet it was probably due to this tower being made long before Tony had even become Iron Man let alone help found the team so probably got converted from a very big apartment to an HQ.

Entering the room, Kamala found the weirdest sight to see from a group of superheroes doing; Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye having LAN party in the living room and rotating who got to hook a laptop up to the big screen for the bigger picture to play...Warframe?

‘This is not what I expected heroes to be doing in their off time...says the gamer who used to live for this stuff before going hero and had less time for it,’ Kamala thought, as she watched Hawkeye rant at Thor to stop modding the Fragor Prime for just electricity damage and Thor saying ‘Warframe Mjolnir’ was just fine as is.

“School work done for the day Stretch?” Toney asked as he joined her at the entrance to the living room.

“Yeah...um...if Pepper around? I owe her an apology for something I said earlier...” Kamala asked, looking ashamed for her outburst.

“So I heard, what happened? Pepper refused to say what set you off,” Toney asked, being so far neutral in expression on the matter.

“When she was scolding me it reminded me of my Ammi...it felt like she was trying taking her place and I demanded she stop...I must have been harsher then I thought since she left so fast, I just...” Kamala tried to explain but her words just refused to synch up with what was in her head and heart.

“Strict parents I take?” Toney asked, seeming to be getting idea of what happened and was glad it more of grey area issue. Kid was letting a moment of anger get to her and Pepper did not know what would be a trigger.

Kamala nodded clearly looking more and more ashamed of her actions and hating herself thinking of her mother when being scolded, why not when Pepper comforted her yesterday when they talked about her having nightmares or even when Natasha did during their talk in the gym? Was she such a bad daughter she only let associated things like lectures and yelling but not support and comfort? No wonder her parents hated her in her dreams and refused accept it was her behind that irremovable mask!

“You okay Marvel?” Tony asked, looking concerned the kid was starting to tremble.

“Just realized how terrible a person I am,” Kamala whispered with still just enough volume for Tony to hear clearly, before turning to run but stopped when she saw both Pepper and Natasha standing behind her.

Kamala looked like she trying to get her voice to respond, even if words could form for her right now she would have been cut off by both woman saying, “Come with me!”

Both glared at each other, but each took arm and dragged Kamala out of the room. Leaving Tony wondering two things, one how did the kid reach that conclusion and two how did three gamers managed to not notice the whole when they where just a few feet away.

-

“Not stretchy anymore, please no tug a war!” Kamala squeaked out, praying that would keep the two women from going separate directions.

“There won’t be one if Potts butts out,” Natasha stated coolly, getting glare from the redhead with freckles.

“Like you care about what Ms. Marvel is going through, Romanov!” Pepper shot back, as the two dragged Kamala towards her room.

As Kamala got pushed in gently by both women, both tried to move forward at the same time to follow but got in each other’s way causing another round of glaring at one another.

Kamala was getting very scared of what was going on grab the door and rapidly said, “I’mreallysorryforwhateverIdid!”

With that she tried to close door but Natasha stopped it with one hand while not breaking eye contact with Pepper. Seeing this Kamala got behind the door and tried pushing, but the woman powered by the Red Room’s version of the super soldier serum easily withstood the depowered Inhuman’s attempt to close the door.

“When do I get my turn with the super juice?” Kamala grumbled as she kept pushing on succeeded at make her feet slide back across the hardwood floor.

“You had your turn when you got hit with the Terrigen Mist,” Natasha replied calmly though still refused break the glaring contest with her opponent.

“Like that is doing me much good right now!” Kamala shot back, before stopping her attempt to close door because she was tapped out of energy. Living in a place full of superheroes when your own superness was on lockdown was completely unfair.

It took a few more minutes before Natasha gave Pepper just enough room to get by, before following. Pepper had tried close the door on the super spy but had the same luck as Kamala.

Kamala was told to sit in the desk chair, while Natasha closed the door leaving Pepper to get the first shot at getting answers.

“What was that comment to Tony about? What makes you think you are a terrible person? Is this about this morning?” Pepper demanded with her hands on her hips and tapping her foot as she waited for answer.

“You’re replacing her again,” Natasha commented casually, getting a glare from Pepper who could clearly guess this time Natasha did spy on them.

“And why were you spying on us? You delivered your message so there is no more need to hound her!” Pepper roared in anger, but the spy took it like it was nothing.

“I was only going ask her if she had questions about my suggestions, Tony kind of cut our conversation short and I was not going have her make a choice if she was uncertain on anything. You playing stand in mom and upsetting her and yourself is making is hard for me to do that,” Natasha answered calmly, though she also had intended to check on the girl in general. Natasha had her own guilt issues and thought maybe she could help...if it helped S.H.I.E.L.D. get what they wanted, that was a bonus.

“Please stop fighting...I’m tired of hurting people with my problems,” Kamala asked quietly, though still loud enough for the two women to turn their attention back to her.

“Then tell us the current issue, it might get the pretender to stop sticking her nose out of things that are not her concern,” Natasha suggested, still playing role the casual villain. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and heroine knew people, how to get them to tell her things and teenagers were easier when you went around their youthfulness stubbornness and used their weaknesses against them; Kamala biggest ones where grief and guilt so Natasha would use them until the kid ran out of things to hide behind if necessary.

“She’s not! I’m the one being a brat! I can accept comfort no problem, something I know my Ammi gave me, and have no problem but a scolding or lecture that sounded like something she would say? I blow up at Pepper and tell her to stop taking her place! I was a terrible daughter and worse person!” Kamala yelled at Natasha, then recoiled when a sharp slap strikes her across the face.

“How dare you!” Pepper screamed as she stepped forward to return the slap; but was backhanded away with ease by Natasha and this set Kamala off. The former hero of Jersey jumps up from the chair to try and punch Natasha, only have her grabbed by the arm have it twisted behind her back.

“Hit me all you want, but not her!” Kamala said through gritted teeth and she struggled to not scream in pain from her arm being locked in such a position.

“Interesting response from such a terrible person, but if you are such a brat then you need to learn your place,” Natasha replied so calm a way it terrified Kamala more than if the woman was furious.

Natasha then spoke out in Russian for moment before an acknowledgement from Jarvis spoke out, and then started marching Kamala out room with her arm still locked behind her back.

The teen wanted to resist, but it was hard to struggle and not make the arm lock hurt more, so she had to let herself get led where ever the Black Widow wanted...which was the living room?

“Loading a virus to my armoury...really Natasha? Resorting extremes all around I see,” Tony commented with a raised eyebrow, while he watched the super spy drive the girl into the room.

“The kid seem to only work in extremes so let’s resort to some to knock some sense into her,” Natasha replied in the first sign of emotion she had shown beyond cool and calm...one of being extremely pleased with her how things were going.

“All setup for your new teammate?” Natasha asked, as the three confused heroes nodded their heads while trying to figure out what was going.

“Good...so let me properly introduce you to her, this is Ms. Kamala Khan!” Natasha said smoothly, ripping the mask of Kamala’s face and the girl scream out in protest as the remaining Avengers found out her secret, plus the living room had large windows and window doors all along on wall facing the balcony that overlooked the city outside.

“Let make a bet Ms. Khan, you make it 4 hours staying on the couch without this and you get it back, get seen by one of those potential camera drones and we can all watch your secret go up in smoke; that’s your punishment...do try to learn to keep your temper under control in the future,” Natasha replied, twirling the blue domino mask on her finger through one of the eye holes while she looked smug.

“I-I-I....I hate you!” Kamala screamed out, but was ignored by the S.H.I.E.L.D agent walked away; the only thing stopping Kamala from going after her was the Hulk holding her back.

“Ride it out, Natasha chooses something she stick to it or make it worse until her target gives in,” Clint told Kamala, glaring in the direction the woman went with the mask.

Kamala responds with silence for several moments before asking, “Can I hide in the bathroom or something?” but got a shake of the head from all three gamers.

“As friend Hawkeye said, Widow would just escalate whatever this is...best to face the challenge head on young warrior,” Thor suggested than offered her a controller linked to the laptop hooked up to the TV.

“How does someone manage to turn something I loved doing before all this into a punishment?” Kamala said through tears of anger. She did not feel like playing, but didn’t want offend the three men who clearly got dragged into this mess and took the controller despite knowing mouse and keyboard was better for shooters.

As Kamala sat down, she was surprised Hulk sat down next to her on the side that would at least give her some cover from the windows, “What instructions she gave through Jarvis was to keep you on the couch, she never said anything about keeping you easy to see.”

Kamala took small comfort in this, before saying, “Um I mainly play RPGs....how does this work? Also kind of need to...make an account”

-

Back in the hallway, Tony had followed after Natasha and asked, “So did she attack you or something? Anyone can see the mark on her face and that is the only thing I can think of is she must have lost it for your resort to what you are doing.”

“Oh she did nothing other than answer why she thought she was a terrible person, but like I said she is only thinking in extremes so...I’m going to break her out of this self punishment mind set in any way I can...by the way nice touch with the virus story,” Natasha replied, still twirling the mask on one finger.

“All you gave us was, ‘keep her on the couch, play good cops and have a fourth laptop ready’ had to do something and that sounded as good as any to not look like a bad cop with nothing to go on...where’s Pepper?” Tony asked, knowing Pepper would have been trying to put a stop such an aggressive approach to ‘tough love’.

“Needed to prove Kamala she might not be such a terrible person and remove Pepper as an obstacle long enough to get our hot tempered teen to the living room...see you in the 4 hours, hope this plan of yours have will help her,” Natasha replied casually, not truly answer Tony’s question as she walked away.

‘Why do I get the feeling Natasha just made an enemy of Pepper and Kamala for awhile...if not forever,’ Tony thought as headed down the hall...only to find out minutes later he needed to keep Pepper from hunting Natasha down with one of his Iron Man gauntlets strapped on to her hand. One blast from that could do some damage if Pepper managed to land a hit or get herself killed when the Black Widow fought back.

-

At the end of the 4 hours, Natasha casually walked into the living with Kamala’s mask still being treated like her new toy and found the Inhuman actually trying to play the game but was still tense without her security blanket.

“Jarvis, what is the kill count?” Natasha asked, making Kamala spin around and try to leap from the couch to attack older woman, but was grabbed by Thor by the back of her shirt. Tony and Clint needed work together for Pepper.

_“10 news drone and 8 private ones destroyed before they even reached this floor, 99.99% chance Ms. Marvel’s identity is still secure, as you requested Black Window”_ Jarvis replied, making the two more aggressive females stopped struggling upon hearing this.

Natasha smiled at this before throwing the blue mask back its owner, “Now was that so bad? Though be an actual brat in the future and I might not be so easy on you.”

“You still took it from me....I was not ready for....not that I don’t trust you guys but it was mine...” Kamala said through tears as she put her mask back on, looking at the others who did not know her identity until a few hours ago.

“Easy kid, we all understand...well almost all of as anyway!” Clint assured Kamala, though the last one was said with more hostility and aimed at Natasha.

Natasha just shrugged and left the room, most of its occupants glaring as she left. Tony was a bit more understanding given what Natasha had told him before, but kind of wished his teammate had chosen a way that did not put her at odds with whole group.

Clearing his throat, Tony looked over to Kamala and said, “Stretch, I know you’re a bit on edge right now, but it’s almost 7pm and kind of hoping you would mood to talk to someone for a bit. I think it might even help.”

“I...I don’t know...” Kamala started to say, but then met Pepper’s eyes who mouthed ‘trust him’. With Kamala still feeling sorry for what she did to Pepper that morning, she reluctantly agreed and followed Tony back to her room and watched him access a program on her computer after setting up a web cam.

After a few moments, he stepped aside and let Kamala sit down only to find the familiar face of Sheikh Abdullah awaiting her.

“Good evening Sister Marvel, I hope you have been doing well,” The old man kindly greeted the young girl who’s eyed watered in joy for a change, she could really could use a talk with someone who she had know for longer than a few days right now.

“I’ll leave you two be....though just so you knew Stretch, the Sheikh is good start but you do know we are going to need talk about an actual therapist eventually,” Tony advised, walking out as Kamala looked back and forth between the retreating form and Tony Stark and Sheikh Abdullah in confusion.

“For once, Mr. Stark and I are in agreement, though I will of course am always be here to help where I can Sister Marvel. I apologize this is not true a social call, but your concern about facing your current challenges alone had Captain America and I in contact to set up a means for you contact me at least once a week. I may not be able to help in all matter you are facing, but I can at least listen without you needing to worry about secrets,” The Sheikh explained, almost looking guilty he was calling because he was ‘on the clock’ and not there just for her. Kamala did not care; she wanted this no matter the reason.

“I don’t mind Sheikh Abdullah I....I feel like I’m going insane, one minute I’m fine then the next I’m crying and after that I’m mad...I can’t sleep and I can’t stand the sight of food sometimes....and the whole Black Widow stuff is happening!” Kamala spilled out, her mind a mess of all the things she was dealing with and needed to be calmed down by the Sheikh so he could understand it all.

After almost an hour of Kamala trying to explain everything that she had been dealing with the last few days, Sheikh Abdullah had to stop her near the end to ask, “She unmasked you, in front of everyone who did not know already know AND made you think you be could seen at any time by these drones? I wish to speak to her...now if possible.”

“I...I don’t think I can be near her right now...I deserved it any...” Kamala replied trembling in terror at the thought of being at arm’s reach of the one had only hours ago took away the one thing she had left that felt like it was hers alone to give up.

“I’m not so sure of that Sister Marvel...you are not yourself and these dreams concern me, I’m uncertain how sound your judgment is at this time and would rather speak to this Ms. Potts before saying anything on the matter...as for this Romanov person...” The Sheikh started saying calmly, but his voice getting dangerously low at the point he talked about the Black Widow.

Kamala was about reply when the nullifier on her arm beeped and she looked at the portions near underside of her wrist and pulled a panel back to reveal some controls and pressed a button Tony showed her during the small talk in his lab the previous day.

“Um...yes?” the confused girl asked, wonder why they where contacting her by the built in communicator.

“Ms. Marvel, this is Captain America, we have a mission but we are leaving Black Widow behind to be here as protection for you...I know you and her have issues but please tough it out until we get back soldier,” Captain America’s voice instructed over the communicator, making Kamala’s eyes widen in fear.

“Why Widow? Why not you or Hulk or Hawkeye...Cap? Cap!” Kamala yelled into the communicator, but no response came back.

“Excellent, this gives me a chance to speak with Ms. Romanov,” Sheikh Abdullah stated calmly while Kamala had to fight the urge to scream in frustration.

-

An annoyed Natasha sat in the living room with a cup of coffee, knowing the real reason she was the one on guard duty. The rest of the Avengers wanted the ‘weak link’ out of the way for the time being. It was an expected response but the fact Cap and Iron Man used guard duty as the excuse over just straight up saying it was what angered the Black Widow.

Her mood did not improve when a familiar face poked her head around the corner with an energy shield’s edge just barely in view.

“Can I help you?” Natasha asked calmly, not brining her annoyance to bear on the girl since the kid had already been on the receiving of a Black Widow attack.

“Sheikh Abdullah says he wants a word with you,” Kamala replied, getting a raised eyebrow from Natasha.

“Ratted me out did you?”

“Hey, he wanted to hear about my problems and I spilled all of them....you just happened to my most recent one! If it where up to me I would have stayed in my room and talked more!” Kamala shot back, keeping the shield ready since she half expected the woman to come after her.

After a moment of silence, Natasha stood and started towards the exit to the room, Kamala backing up as fast she could and keeping her only defense in place.

“You do know I’m here to protect you right?” Natasha asked, finally letting some of her annoyance show.

“I stopped believing that when you ripped my mask off!” Kamala shot back, trying to pick up the pace so they could get this over with...only find her arm being twisted behind her back again, the shield emitter hitting the floor and her face being pushed up against the wall.

After being held there for few seconds, Kamala started thinking another unmasking was about to happen when she felt Natasha’s face move closer to her ear.

“If I was a threat, you would be already dealt with, even with that little toy. I. Am. Here. To. Protect. You.” Natasha sated firmly, using her freehand to scoop up the emitter while letting go of Kamala’s arm.

As Kamala nursed her arm, she found her ‘toy’ being handed back to her, which she took back carefully, still expecting some other attack to happen but nothing came. Kamala and Natasha started walking again, though this time Kamala did not activate the shield once she had the emitter back on.

Less than a minute later, Kamala was told by Sheikh go back to living room, while the two adults talk. This of course her Kamala fuming, she wanted to at least see the Black Widow get put in her place, but no she had to go wait somewhere else!

“Explain yourself Ms. Romanov, I fail to see how taking her secret from her and worse implying you were willing to gamble people OUTSIDE your tower would see her face, was an acceptable punishment for a tantrum! Sister Marvel right now is in a state of pain and grief; moments of extreme outburst of emotions are to be expected!” The Sheikh demanded from the older heroine from the other side of the screen.

“Her outburst was not my issue; it’s herself destructive blaming herself is my focus. She is constantly looking for ways to blame herself more then she already has. Ms. Marvel WANTS to be punished, so I gave her one,” Natasha replied casually, not nearly as impressed by the old man’s attempts to scare her as Tony had been. Though in Tony’s defence, he was not trained in anti integration tactics, the Black Widow on the other hand thrived in such a scenario....pretty sure she helped rewrite the book several times over.

“Of course Sister Marvel is blaming herself; she thinks she killed...those people. I fail to see how your ‘punishment’ will stop that. If anything I see it as you trying to drive her out, she made me WELL AWARE you want her any place other then the tower,” The Sheikh countered, not willing to let this woman’s nonchalant attitude affect him.

“Oh so her not being with family is a good thing? Or in a CITY full of Inhumans like herself who watch over her far more easily than even the Avengers. Those after her have only targeted isolated individuals so if she is not Karachi with her grandmother, New Attilan perfect for that reason alone let alone several other advantages I could list,” Natasha shot back, not allowing the old man to get into her head.

“That is not...” Sheikh Abdullah started to say, when the power cut on them to the room.

Jumping to her feet, Natasha runs out of the room and starting calling out, “Ms. Marvel!”

She had made it halfway to living room when she saw the glow of the energy shield coming up the dark hall towards her.

“Widow, what’s going on?” Kamala asked, clearly so scared at the sudden power outage that she was more than willing run towards the woman she was terrified of.

“I don’t know, the backup generator should have kicked in by now...we should head prison area, it’s one of most secure sections in the whole tower,” Black Widow advised, though even the dark she could tell Kamala was apprehensive which made the older woman sigh.

“Look I know you have trust issues with me, but this exactly the worse time to let that...” Black Widow started to say, but trailed off when she heard a crunching sound and both women slowly turned their heads the sound and saw a man in a red and black costume that both knew...and was eating popcorn with his mask half up.

“Please continue, I love me some drama,” Deadpool said casually, only duck out of the way of a roundhouse kick from Black Widow.

“What are doing here Deadpool? You’re a mercenary; you don’t go picking fights with anyone without a reason!” Black Widow demanded, getting between Ms. Marvel and the nut job for hire.

“Well let’s see...the script I’m here for the flat as a board girl blah blah blah....wait what’s this about a shield to the faced?” Deadpool replied, taking a book from out of nowhere and reading from until the last part, where as he turned to look towards the women only have an energy shield hit its mark.

“How’s that for flat?!” Kamala called back, as she was dragged away by Black Widow down the hall at full sprint, the shield coming back her wrist.

“Are you insane? You don’t have your powers and you just picked a fight with a man far more dangerous than Shocker who nearly beat you twice!” Back Widow scolded her charge, not believing the teenager was that reckless.

“I stopped being sane almost a week ago remember?” Kamala shot back, before looking back and going pale at what she saw.

“Big gun! Really big gun!” The Inhuman screamed, making Black Widow turn back to see the mini gun winding up to fire.

“Shit!” was the only thing Widow could say, before diving though the entry of the living room area before hail bullets tore through the hall. As the two headed for the ground from the dive, Black Widow pulled Kamala in close to her chest and twisted her body so her back hit the ground in place of the teenager.

“I miss being bullet proof,” Kamala whimpered into her protector’s chest, clearly not liking being in the sights of a villain and being unable to defend herself.

“I read your file, you where never bullet proof! Rapid healing that leaves you drained is good against single shots, not a massive barrage that would tear you to shreds!” Black Widow lectured the girl, the rookie clearly still learning to use her powers correctly.

‘If Kamala does not leave before she reaches a proper state of recovery, I’m going make sure she finds out she not that kind combatant!’ Black Widow promised herself, quickly seeing Kamala must have been treating her healing factor like it made her a tank that could dive in and trade hits with her opponent, when it clearly was better suited as a fall back option when she could not avoid taking damage.

“As touching as this moment is, I’m afraid I need to cut it short!” Deadpool called out from the doorway, leveling his weapon fire but Black Widow countered by firing micro missiles from her gauntlets to destroy the weapon and knock her red and black foe back.

“Get to cover!” Widow ordered the girl she was charged with protecting, before flipping back onto her feet and taking out two shock nightsticks and diving into melee with the insane mercenary.

Deadpool countered by drawing the two katana on his back, his body already healed from the missile attack. The two combatants soon met head on, Natasha trying to use the metal of the two swords to her advantage by shocking Deadpool, but her opponent’s healing let him shrug it off and keep fighting unimpaired.

Kamala meanwhile had scrambled to the far side of the room, watching the two adults fought. Black Widow seeming to be the better fighter, but Deadpool was still by no means a push over plus his healing factor negated any damage the woman could inflict.

Things had come to a turning point when Deadpool disarmed Black Widow of one of her shock sticks let once she started to tire, but the dual wielding swordsman was still going strong thanks to his insane healing factor plus it allowing him to take risks only a man like him could take without dying.

Kamala out of habit from months of being used to helping people as Ms. Marvel, she looked down at her wrist to the shield emitter and knew she had to do something, but what? She was not Captain America so she could not dive in or toss the shield accurately enough to help.

‘Unless...” Kamala wondered reach to the emitter when she heard Black Widow let out growl of pain and teen looked up to see the Avenger clutching her left shoulder as blood trickled down the arm, the final shock stick was now missing.

Kamala knew her only option was go with her plan and pray it helped Black Widow, so she took off the emitter and ran forward.

“Natasha!” Kamala screamed out, before throwing emitter towards the pair and prayed her aim was good enough.

Both adults saw the objecting coming, but unlike Kamala had intended, it was Deadpool went for emitter. He raised a single blade and caught emitter on the blade and flicked it off towards the direction of the balcony.

“Yonk! No rearming the...oh shit...” Deadpool, started to say, but as he looked back to see Black Widow through gritted teeth raised both arms towards his chest and unloaded the entire clip of Widow’s Bite electric charges from each gauntlet into the mercenary.

Sadly Deadpool was still standing after this, though breathing very heavily and very annoyed.

“Okay...that was a thing, now it’s my turn...I think I’m going to start with the little rat, than you and I can have some alone time Widow,” Deadpool stated, before starting to turn towards Kamala’s direction.

“Leave her alone!” Back Widow screamed in fury, using her one good arm to throw a punch at Deadpool, but he dropped both swords so he could catch it and tossed her judo style. As she landed, she skidded across the wood floor and was only stopped by the balcony’s glass doors.

As Kamala saw this, she dove forwards again, hoping to get in striking distance but like so many people kept doing to her, Deadpool grabbed her by the back of her shirt and threw the petite girl like she rag doll across the room with ease, landing on the kitchen counter and rolled over to the other side from the momentum.

“Now where did I put my rat killer,” Deadpool said casually, reaching behind his back and somehow pulling out a shotgun and with a shrug that went ‘close enough’.

As he circled around the counter, so see his targeting raising her left arm up and her right on the device like she was going push some kind button or switch.

“Back off or I’ll blow your head off!” Kamala bluffed in desperation, having no other means to defend herself at the moment.

Much to her shock, Deadpool actually grabbed her arm and pointed the shotgun right at the nullifier, “Well I’m getting tired of all these little toys so let’s deal with that then!”

Then with a loud bang that made Kamala’s ears ring so bad she did not hear own screams of pain as the steel casing of the device on her arm was shattered and sparks burse from exposed components. Even blood started coming out from under the broken machine, some of blast clearly punching through to the fresh beneath.

While Kamala sobbed in pain, Deadpool wordless let go of her arm and prepared to level the weapon to her head, when a feral roar was heard from behind him and turned just in time get hit in the face with the of the energy shield that Black Widow now wore on her good arm.

As the blow staggered Deadpool, Widow followed up with roundhouse kick to the head and a shield bash to the torso.

Deadpool continued to get pummeled by Black Widow, his healing factor rapidly repairing the damage, but unable to get a moment to mentally recover from the barrage of blows, so was not ready for what happened next...from the third combatant in the room.

“Embiggen!” Kamala’s voice screamed out in a mix of fear and anger, before a massive hand grabbed Deadpool by the head and whipped him around for a bit before throwing him with such force he crashed through the glass doors that lead to balcony.

The momentum gained from the throw carried the red and black clad mercenary all the way to edge of the balcony, who was mostly trying to figure out what the heck was going on and why the world was spinning until he heard another war cry come from back inside the penthouse.

Deadpool looked up just in time to see the fridge from kitchen sailing through the air colliding with its target and sending both over the edge.

“What the hell just happened?!” Deadpool screamed as he fell to the ground below.

-

Back in the kitchen/living room, Kamala was almost as tall at the ceiling, going to her giant size to make tossing the appliance that much easier rather than just single limb. She breathing heavily, the rush of emotions combined with her healing factor and low intake of calories not doing her stamina any favors.

As she shrank back down to normal size, Black Widow grabbed the masked teen by her left arm and inspected the damage, the nullifier gone once Kamala went giant size, the point blank shotgun blast having taken its toll on it anyway.

“Reckless girl, you’re lucky Jersey has only thrown the likes of the Inventor at you!” Natasha scolded; breathing a sigh of relief was no damage. The girl was a fast healer and the nullifier was still a rather tough device by design so it was probably more fracture to the bone from the force of the impact rather tearing into the flesh. If not for object, Kamala would lost the limb from such a shot and it was unclear if the girl could regenerate lost limbs, something no one should be a rush to find out.

“You where hurt...what was I supposed to...” Kamala started to say, but was cut off by Widow pulling her into a hug with her good arm.

“Reckless, foolish child...too brave for your own good, you where supposed to stay safe and not draw attention to yourself.” Natasha whispered into the petite girl’s ear.

“Please stop toying with me, do you hate me or do you care? You keep switching!” Kamala asked as she buried herself into Widow’s chest and started to cry again.

“I’ve been harsh with you because I care, there are...others outside the tower who want you elsewhere and my job was to make that happen,” Natasha explained to the sobbing girl, who let a muffled ‘Was?’

Natasha pulled back and gave the Inhuman a small smile, “I’ll stop trying to get you to leave, but know this, I’m going to make sure you NEVER get near those after you...your hands are clean no matter what you think and they are going to stay that way!”

With that Kamala looked around the room and was about to reply with what Natasha knew would a sarcastic comment, but the super spy pointed her finger at the teen in a warning gesture.

-

Once again the ring of fire surrounded Kamala and could hear the slowly rising voices of parents starting their barrage of verbal abuse, but her main focus was on Ms. Marvel. This time Kamala needed to win, while the nullifier was gone. Maybe could finally sleep tonight if she could just win against her other self.

“So...you must be please with yourself. You fought alongside an Avenger and even got your powers back...does that make you think you are finally my equal? And how long do you think they will let you keep them?” Ms. Marvel mocked Kamala, clearly looking like she was not intimidated. In fact, Ms. Marvel seemed almost bored; causing anger to fill Kamala’s being.

“I only need them long enough to put a stop to you!” Kamala roared out, the flames around them growing with the former superherione’s furry, as she dove forward, her fist and arm growing in preparation to strike.

“Failure!” Kamala’s parent called out and as if casting curse, Kamala felt her strength fade and her arm starting shrinking back normal size, the fist now caught with ease by Ms. Marvel’s waiting palm.

With a smirk, Ms. Marvel started squeezing Kamala’s fist and the girl felt intense pain begin to build in her hand and wrist.

“S-s-s-top!” Kamala begged, still trying call on her powers again but with each attempt, her parents call out with other words that felt like they tore at her heart and soul, stripping the girl of everything that made her feel special and allow Ms. Marvel maintain the advantage.

“Why should I? With just a few words from you victims, you are as weak as ever and that just makes me look bad! I’ll not let you drag my name through the mud with all you’re pretending!” Ms. Marvel stated coldly as she kept squeezing until a loud ‘crack’ was heard and Kamala screamed in pain.

As Ms. Marvel let go and seemed to be preparing herself to strike, a barrage of electric bolts fired out from the flames and struck Ms. Marvel.

“Leave her alone!” the voice the Black Widow called out, diving through the flames and entering the fray, quickly getting to Kamala’s side while Ms. Marvel was forced to retreat from the electrical attacks.

Ms. Marvel looked furious at this roared out, “I’m the hero, why are you helping her instead of me?!”

“Because I told her I was here to protect her,” Black Widow replied coolly, before turning to give Kamala a small smile.

“Stay safe this time, you reckless fool,” The older hero instructed, before drawing her shock sticks and charged Ms. Marvel, who had grow enraged by Russian woman getting in the way.

“Embiggen!” Ms. Marvel roared out, trying punch Black Widow like Kamala had tried to do to Ms. Marvel, but Black Widow gracefully jumped over the blow and actually ran along the arm to the main body of her foe.

Before Ms. Marvel react, Black Widow brought the two shock sticks down onto domino masked heroine’s face, before following up with a knee to the gut.

As Ms. Marvel staggered back, holding her stomach, Kamala could not help but cry with joy. This dream would end well, she would wake up rested and at peace at long last!

As if reading Kamala’s mind, Ms. Marvel let out a feral scream, elongating legs and jumping over Black Widow and making a mad dash for injured girl.

As Ms. Marvel closed in on Kamala, Black Widow fired a zip line from her gauntlet and it wrapped around the super powered teen’s throat, though this did not completely stop the momentum of the enlarged heroine.

“Nice try but...now I got you instead of the other way around!” Ms. Marvel managed to gasp out, grabbing the zip line and Embiggening her arms to over the should toss woman on the other end right next to Kamala with sickening crack as Avenger hit the ground.

“Natasha!” Kamala screamed, as she tried to help the older woman who seemed to struggling to breath but was unsure how to help given she didn’t even know first aid.

“This ends now!” Ms. Marvel roared out, growing her body to full size Kamala knew she was capable of and raised her foot to crush both targets.

The last thing Kamala knew was the barely able to breathe Black Widow grabbing her and the older woman trying to put her body between Kamala and in coming boot.

-

“Natasha!” Kamala screamed out as she shot up her in her bed, her night terrors once again robbing her of a fully restoring rest.

As she looked around and reconfirmed it was only just a dream, the voice of Jarvis spoke up, _“Black Widow is currently in the living room, Ms. Marvel. Shall I inform her of you requiring presence?”_

Kamala did not respond and just made a mad dash out of her room, not even bothering to grab her mask, the shield emitter or bracelet, all that mattered was making sure Natasha was okay!

“Natasha!” Kamala called as she entered the living room looking around frantically around for her protector, who had been sitting on the couch but shot up when she heard the scared teen’s voice.

“Kamala, what wrong?” Natasha asked, as she braced herself for charging teen as said girl embraced the older superherione, all the while sobbing out she was sorry over and over.

“Silly girl, why are you sorry? There is no way you could have done something so bad you would be this upset,” Natasha soothed gently though suspected it was another nightmare.

“I killed you or the other me did...you where trying to protect me when I got hurt but when she got past you to attack me, you got hurt and she crushed us!” Kamala tried to explain, though her almost hysterical state made her almost impossible understand, though the Black Widow thought she could make a guess so she carefully guided the crying child to the couch and had her sit down next to her.

“Have you been fighting yourself in your dreams?” Natasha asked, surprised that Kamala had actually shook her head no and even more the girl said ‘Ms. Marvel’.

“So you been fighting Carol when she Ms. Marvel then?” Once again growing confused when shook her head no again and was at a loss at what ask to get an understanding who Kamala was fighting, when the girl spoke up.

“I’ve been fighting who I was supposed to be...the Ms. Marvel I wanted to be. She’s strong, she confidant but not arrogant, she can win no matter what, she is perfect...unlike me...I only thought I was strong, I jump into fights thinking I could I can be like Captain Marvel or the Avengers and then find out too late I’m in over my head too much to make a comeback. If I was her, Ammi and Abu would still be here,” Kamala explained, calmer then when she first came out, but she looked weak and fragile as she spilled her deepest secrets to one of Earth’s mightiest.

“So...you lost to some impossible standard you set for yourself?” Natasha asked, almost smiling at the girl’s naive mindset. Kamala was defiantly still a rookie.

“For me maybe but you and others...” Kamala started to say, but was cut off by a finger being put against her lips by Natasha.

“Your thinking of the image you have made of us through things you learn the media and internet, not for who we are. Yes we faced impossible odds and have won, but it was never easy and we made mistakes, plans and backup plans have failed and we won by the skin or our teeth...you will never be that girl Kamala, you can be the best you can be but you will never be this ‘perfect’ Ms. Marvel your striving for,” Natasha replied, keeping her expression gentle and her eyes locked on Kamala’s so the young girl might stay calm or if that failed, Natasha could react to any unexpected emotions.

“If I can never be her though, how do I win against her?” Kamala asked, almost pleading for the secret that would help her get rid of at least one the threats to her in her dreams.

Before Natasha could reply though, the sound of the quinjet approaching for landing on the large balcony and let the remaining Avengers came out check the damage to their home/HQ.

“Wow when you said you and Ms. Marvel had a fight with Deadpool, you where not kidding that it was ugly and this just out here. Don’t think I want know the damage the mini gun did the hall,” Iron Man commented, seeing damage to the where the fridge knocked Deadpool over the edge and to the glass doors leading into the living room.

“Why the fridge though? You have that much issue with food right now kiddo?” Hawkeye commented dryly, a bit hungry after the mission and the fridge still had pizza inside it. He was surprised to see the girl without her mask and clinging to the woman who had taken it from her before.

“It was bigger than the stove, less chance it would miss,” Kamala answered, still a bit teary eyed from her heart to heart talk with Natasha.

“You okay solider?” Steve asked, pulling his mask off now and kneeling down to check on his student, partly eye Natasha given he knew what had happened earlier.

“More nightmares from what she told me....we might want to start going over that list of therapists you must have Tony,” Natasha suggested, narrowing her eyes when Tony looked confused at the world ‘list’.

“There is a list...right?” The spy/heroine asked, her voice making it clear she was going to be very mad if there was not one.

“I was kind of thinking of getting into contact with Doc Samson before looking into possible other options...secret identity issues kind make finding one that is both good enough and trust worthy a bit hard!” Toney said defensively, while Natasha growled into the palm her hand in frustration.

“For the love of....have you ever thought of just asking Medusa for one? One of her doctors knows Kamala’s secret with no issue so maybe she can point you towards a few therapists?!” The super spy growled out, making everyone look scared of the woman at the moment.

“Can’t I just keep talking to Sheikh Abdullah?” Kamala managed to ask in a small voice, not wanting to draw the wrath of the Black Widow to her, but was relieved when the seemed calmer when looking back to her.

“He is good for support, but you need qualified professional if you’re going starting actually healing, plus you will get to see a certain giant dog once and awhile regardless of where you want to have the sessions,” Natasha explained, though dropping hint of Kamala’s friend as the carrot since she had no doubt talking a therapist was probably seen as the stick in the teenager’s mind.

“Lockjaw?” Kamala whispered, and then quickly looked to Steve and Tony as if asking for permission to accept the offer.

‘How the heck did they go from being at odds with each other to this over a few hours?’ The others all thought, before Steve spoke up.

“If that is what you want, we’ll get in contact with Queen Medusa and...” the captain started to answer when Pepper’s voice screamed out, “Why is the fridge on the sidewalk and why are there bullet holes all over the place?!”

“Oh this normal in Jersey the last few months, I would have thought New York would be used to it by now,” The familiar voice of certain Sheikh commented as the two came into view of the living room.

“The fridge part yes but I know for a fact bullet holes not so much!” Kamala shot back defensively, she was very proud she had kept gun violence to minimum...not that she had many cases of it during her rather short time a superhero. Of course this defensiveness did not last long as she wanted to hug the old man who was hear for some reason and ran over to him.

“Ah Sister...Kamala at the moment I see, it’s good to see you are alright since the call was cut off so abruptly,” Abdullah said kindly though started eyeing a certain adult heroine given what he was discussing issue about masks before said call was ended.

“I had nothing to do it that this time; she came out on her own without her mask,” stated calmly, though for some reason she felt...unnerved somehow. Was this not easier last night? What was going on?

“Don’t be mad with her Sheikh Abdullah, we worked it out after the power outage and fight with Deadpool...I kind of hit him with the fridge, that’s why it’s on the sidewalk right now” Kamala explained with a bit of sheepish expression not realizing she just sealed Natasha’s fate.

Abdullah stormed over to the Black Widow and grabbed her by the ear, lecturing her on what protecting someone involved the one being protected NOT being in the fight, while Pepper wanted know why Kamala did not have her nullifier.

The rest of the Avengers had to laugh at the site of the Black Widow somehow getting caught off guard by the old man and being dragged away by the ear, though Steve kept his share of laughing under control so he could give a ‘modified’ version of what happened in what Natasha told them in a message once Jarvis was back online, so to keep Kamala out of too much trouble.

-

Meanwhile from his vantage point on roof of a nearby building, Deadpool scoped out what was happening through a sniper rifle with a silencer, before shifting away from the penthouse to take out yet another camera drone, before grabbing a slice of pizza from the boxed marked ‘Ms. Marvel’.

“And that makes 12....okay they are finished bonding and the kid is now out of view, do I get paid now?” Deadpool asked after finish his slice of pizza and looked up at the sky. Seconds later a large bag of money appeared next to him on the roof.

After taking a moment to confirm payment was in full Deadpool packed up his gear and headed out for home while saying, “Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Dragon”


	5. Along came a Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers need to get inside a prestigious boarding school to confirm if a dangerous weapons program is being done there, but have no easy means of getting confirmation using their usual methods, so call on the still depowered Kamala to pose as a student.
> 
> During her mission though, backup in the form of fellow teen hero Spider-Man arrives and the two team-up find weapon's program despite Kamala wanting do it alone in hopes of it being her first step in becoming Ms. Marvel again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been waiting for this chapter and the length proves it! Hope you all enjoy and please let me know what you think in the comments!

Chapter 5 – Along came a Spider

It was over week since the fight with Deadpool and Kamala was staring down her third greatest foe to date, just below the voices of her parents and the Ms. Marvel from her nightmares, her hero collection.

She had her first session with a therapist Medusa herself had handpicked to help her, a woman named Rachel who had like Kamala, got hit by the cloud but unlike Kamala who jumped at the chance to stay with her new Inhuman family, though that was just as much due to her physical appearance changing so much it felt awkward in human society.

Rachel had turn bright pink and gained elf like ears and two antenna on her forehead, but lost all her hair, not the most extreme change compared to some, but not small either so the woman felt more comfortable going to New Attilan when found.

Rachel made several suggestions that said would help them get start the setup for Kamala’s long term treatment, was writing a journal of her nightmares, thoughts, and feelings saying what Kamala wrote would be used help guide them thought process in narrowing down the underline problems. Kamala personally thought that should be obvious, but older Inhuman assured her it was very common method make sure all issues where addressed.

Another suggestion was what made Kamala finally look to her old collection, Rachel had seen Kamala’s room upon arriving via Lockjaw teleportation, as it was ideal in terms of privacy but the therapist had noted Kamala had not done anything to make it her own, doing so was a good starting point if the teenager could fill it with things familiar and comforting to her, thus ‘setting the stage’ for when it was time for sleep.

The only things Kamala had that could do that where in bags of items she had salvaged when she ran away, but at the same time, the items before her where what started the chain of events that killed her parents and put Bruno and Aamir in critical condition, so do these things still qualify as ‘comforting’?

Before that night, her collection was something she took pride in, it was what inspired her, even before she became Ms. Marvel but now...where her parents right to treat it like trash and she needed to live in the real world? Even though they could not have known that the world of heroes was real world for her now?

“Penny for your thoughts?” the voice of Tony Stark asked from the doorway, having coming to check on the Kamala after Rachel gave the whole some basic tips on to help, given how they where currently Kamala’s only support structure and her admiration of them gave their words and actions more weight than most.

“Only a penny?” Kamala tried to joke, though her current struggle clearly made her tone and expression fall short, though Tony still smirked regardless.

“Pepper would kill me for bribing you with even that,” The billionaire genius replied, coming over look over the pile of trash bags the girl was in a staring contest with.

“Finally trying to unpack?”

“Trying figure out if these are what Rachel meant by items I should surround myself with...I ran away because I loved these things so much, but my parents didn’t...” Kamala started to say, but stopped Tony’s hand on her shoulder.

“What about the plushy on the bed then?” Tony asked casually gesturing to said item the girl had sought for comfort after so many nightmares.

When Kamala looked she was fighting for an answer but could not make her mind explain or justify it, Tony pressed his advantage.

“Let’s try the worst case scenario...if it starting hurting too much stop me but try hear me out if you can bare it Stretch. Let’s assume these people behind the Inhuman attacks knew who Ms. Marvel was and targeted your parents where for that reason, but instead of running away you stayed home and let this stuff go to the dump, what would have happened?” Toney added, being firm but not trying to shove the idea down Kamala’s throat.

“I would have been there to....” Kamala tried to counter; Tony just shook his head firmly that somehow stunned the girl again for another follow up point from Tony.

“Grounded meant personal time is effected, but what about school? You wouldn’t have been able to protect them during the week when in class or even if the group did do it with you around, they would have had the advantage, you would have needed to protect your whole family from at least those three meta humans the news reported on when it was at a time of their choosing, plus possibly others,” Tony finished, laying out what he felt was the whole scenario he could come up with what little information they had on everything.

This made Kamala eyes glaze over, as if playing out the whole idea in her head, going over what tricks she had learned over the last few months, but no matter what she came up with nothing came to mind how she could win in the event her family was in one spot during an ambush like that. Maybe she gave up on defense there a slim chance she could at least drive them back, but at what cost?

“Now going on all that, how is this stuff at fault? I understand being torn between what you parents thought about this stuff and it means to you, but right now...worry about what helps you feel better because no one has the right to say you need to feel bad, not even your parents’ voices,” Tony assured the girl, before taking something out of his back pocket and tossing it to Kamala.

“Thought you might want that for your next shower since you did not put anything the list for yourself and we only had a few sample packs in the bathroom to hold you over for a week...seriously kid if there something you need just ask, it’s not like I don’t need to keep up Hulk and Thor’s lists I doubt you will be much worse,” Tony teased, as Kamala noted it was bottle of shampoo and then glanced towards the bathroom.

Tony gesture for her to go ahead as he left and girl practically skipped off the back of the connecting bathroom to take a shower while Tony headed for meeting with Avenger, Black Widow saying she got some information on a secret experimental weapon program and with the exception of Hulk and Cap, everyone was here and wanting to get some starting plans in place.

Since it had been closing in on roughly two week total she had come to the tower, Kamala had run out shampoo but had been reluctant ask for more, given how the Avengers had already been giving her so much. They were doing what they could when it came to her dietary restrictions, Cap had been training her up until he left on a solo mission a few days ago, Hawkeye, Thor, and Hulk had been encouraging her join them in their current addiction of Warframe up until Hulk had left for some kind mission as well leaving it to just the three of them, giving her the computer for the online school plus for talking with Sheikh Abdullah and the shield emitter plus now getting in contact with Queen Medusa to help with selecting a therapist for her....it felt like asking for even something as simple like shampoo was pushing it.

After spending an hour washing and rewashing her hair just for the pleasure of it and enjoying the heat of the water, Kamala got out and dried herself off changed back into her current favorite outfit of gray sweat pants her black t-shirt with the lightning bolt and was about brush her hair when she got a good look in the mirror and started to see red.

“Stark!” Kamala screamed as she grabbed the emitter and ran out of her room, demanding from Jarvis where Tony was, getting a reply he was in the conference room with the rest of the team.

‘Oh he better be with the rest of the team, because it’s the only way he is going survive hurricane Kamala!’

-

“We are going in circles, we need a way to scope place out but there is no way any of us can do it...not unless Nat can pull off the school girl look,” Hawkeye commented, getting an annoyed glare from Black Widow.

“Well it’s not like we got a lot of options, so unless we got a super teen we can use to...” Tony started to say, when the voice of Kamala cut him off from outside in the hall.

“STARK!” the pissed off teen screamed as she kicked in the door to the conference room, the energy shield active and ready to be thrown, but what kept everyone stunned by a ‘slight’ change to Kamala’s appearance.

“What did you do to your hair?” Tony asked, clearly trying to hold back his laughter at the sight of a neon pink haired Kamala standing in the doorway, the rest of the Avengers clearly having issues keeping their laughter under control as well.

“You think this is funny! Your stupid shampoo did this to me!” Kamala screamed as got ready to throw the energy shield, when everyone heard Hawkeye squeaked out nervously the word ‘Shampoo?’

Kamala slowly turned her head to look and in a sickly sweet tone asked, “Oh Hawkeye....care to explain why you look more scared then Tony right now if he was one to prank me?”

“It was Hulk’s idea and I thought both bottles where Thor’s!” Hawkeye started so say, when he felt the hand of Thor on his should and the sound of crackling electricity.

“Both bottles...shall I smite him for you friend Marvel?” Thor asked, the other in the room seeing Mjolnir starting to gather lighting at the head.

“I can do that myself!” Kamala roared out as she threw the shield at Hawkeye, her aiming clearly improving since it was heading straight for it target, thought it was head she had aimed for and instead it was heading for Hawkeye’s chest.

The sharpshooter dove out of the way and the energy based object knocked the chair over while sending Kamala’s weapon back to her, as she charged in with a feral shriek to go after Hawkeye, but was stopped by both Tony and Black Widow, the latter getting the emitter away from the girl before she killed Hawkeye.

“Hold it Stretch, we need him since we are shorthanded...speaking of which...how old are you again?” Tony asked with a smirk, while the other Avengers stared at him in shock.

“Not a chance Tony! S.H.I.E.L.D. would never allow it and its thanks to them guys like the DA in Jersey have their hands tied!” Black Widow scolded the normally genius man, for what she thought had to be the stupidest idea he ever had.

“So it will be a short call then,” Tony countered, still smirking.

-

“I’ll allow it...assuming Ms. Khan can keep a cooler head this time. Last thing we need is a repeat of the Shocker incident,” Fury instructed, before ending the call. Tony had called it; it had been short though with the opposite of what Widow had expected.

Kamala was mix of hurt and offended at the comment, though she did not know what this mission was other then it had something do a weapons program and she was right age for where ever they needed someone to gather info. Regardless Kamala was happy about one thing; Ms. Marvel was back if her guess was right.

“So what I’m supposed to do exactly? You need a spy but Natasha isn’t qualified because she too old for some reason,” Kamala asked, trying to keep her slowly building excitement at her chance to prove Ms. Marvel could be of help even if she was not exactly at full strength in both body and spirit.

Unlike most women, Natasha shrugged off the comment about her age since she knew Kamala was actually confused rather than taking a shot at her, plus the Russian was actually much older then she looked.

“The main thing we need is for you find who is behind the weapons program, locate the lab and ideally what the project actually is. The first two are the main things we need, since if its being held in a school, then the main objective is have ground to go in and put a stop to it,” Black Widow explained, calling up an image the holo projector that the table had at its center and showed a rather fancy looking private school.

“This is Bilderberg Academy, a private school that has some rather impressive programs and is defiantly what many would call an ‘elite’ school, so if someone is using it for any kind of weapons program we need to stop it...but without proof its actually there and where, it would cause a real incident if we came storming in and possibly risk the students’ safety,” Black Widow continued, making clear what Kamala’s role was. Find weapons and their owner and call for backup, straightforward and simple enough.

“Get this thing off me and put me in coach, being really tiny or paper thin will make scouting out the place will be easy peasy,” Kamala said as pointed to the nullifier on her arm, finally letting the excitement out, Ms. Marvel was back in action!

“Um...think we have had a bit a miscommunication...we need you Kamala, not Ms. Marvel,” Tony said as rubbed the back of his head nervously, while the others did not look any more comfortable with the situation.

“There’s a difference? The one eyed guy said it was okay to...” Kamala started to say, but Natasha cut her off by placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Ms. Marvel right now is still seen in a bad light so risking her being involved any form of superhero work could backfire, it’s far better for you to focus on getting eyes on the needed targets and then giving us the signal,” Black Widow explained, though could tell the girl was not having it.

“I’ve had issues with stealth missions even with my powers, how can I pull this off without them? Besides the nullifier is not easy to hide unless the uniform is really baggy! And let’s not forget if things go wrong, an Embiggened Ms. Marvel has much higher odds of getting out alive to actually call for help then a normal sized Kamala Khan with just a couple of weeks worth of boxing lessons! And we me have issue that my face has been on every new channel since my parents got kill, it was how you and Steve knew who I was when I ripped my mask off! So unless the dress code allows for this pink mess on my head I got to hide my identity somehow like seeing if I can hopefully get my shape shifting working again!” Kamala pointed out, using her only real trump cards to get unshackled, not good to play them all at once but she did have many options.

“She has a point guys, we don’t even know who we are sending her up against, she needs at least some kinds of means to defend herself if things go south,” Hawkeye agreed, though he would admit this was just much means to get back on Kamala’s good side as it was to point out worst case scenario.

Tony looked like he was about say something, then eyed emitter in Widow’s hands and then Widow herself.

“I might have some ideas that to lessen your need for your powers...can’t do much for to replace the ones you mentioned that would help with stealth, but defense and a disguise I can pull off, plus if Widow does not mind if barrow some her suit’s features...” Tony said as he stroked his chin while ideas started to come to mind.

Black Widow raised an eyebrow at this, but then turned back to Kamala with almost evil smile, “As for your issues with stealth missions, you are just lacking the knowledge and experience so you needed to rely on your powers to compensate, for this your age plus some of my guidance should be able to help avoid the need for the fall back options Tony is thinking of.”

‘I’m going to die aren’t I?’ Kamala asked herself, given she did not like the sound of having ‘guidance’ from the Black Widow.

-

Kamala hit the mats hard, as some additional training Natasha was giving her along with standard ways to gather information in a public setting and how to sneak around better, was to teach Kamala the basics to judo to make up for her small size. Kamala was right, she was going to die before she even got to the blasted school!

“We were finally starting to get along and now you do this to me!” Kamala grumbled, while Natasha helped her up for another round.

“You’ll thank me later, besides think of this as a way to slowly rebuild Ms. Marvel’s reputation,” replied with as Kamala tried to grab her for the toss, but was easily countered and back on the ground.

“How can I do that if we keeping any role I play on the down low?” Kamala asked, getting back up again to go another round of torture.

“At the time of the mission yes, but we can make Ms. Marvel’s contribution to us when you’re ready for field work again. You of all people know what having the Avengers’ endorsement means. It will also mean more that you did it without your powers,” Natasha explained, enjoying the sweet sound of the little girl hitting the ground yet again when she tried to grab Natasha’s wrist and only to have turned back on her.

Kamala was about retort from her position on her back, when Tony’s voice came out of the speakers Jarvis would use to transmit its voice.

“If you’re finished further traumatizing the kid, can you both head down to my lab Natasha? Got the gear setup and want to go over how it all works,” Tony requested, clearly watching through the cameras because he sounded very amused.

“I miss Cap!” Kamala wined as she got back up, thinking the pain from all the running, weight lifting and punching was far better than hitting the ground over and over again.

Natasha smirked at this knowing the girl had been slacking in the training program Steve had been putting her through, though to be fair he got her up at 5am and since Kamala was not sleeping well it made sense she was not exactly willing to get out of bed until closer to breakfast. Natasha had noted Kamala did do the training to a degree in the afternoons but it was sloppier and rushed, so girl was at least willing to do it, but was still not ready to do it without supervision.

“What happened to the girl who fought Deadpool without her powers? She was tougher than the one next to me!” Natasha teased, while they made their way towards lab.

“She did not get dropped onto the ground so many times my back feels like the other me stepped on me again!” Kamala growled out, until she realized she had snapped and shirked away out of fear of another slap like Natasha did that day the super spy done when Kamala had been thinking she was a terrible person...Kamala honestly still thought that way.

Natasha shook her head sadly and gestured for the teen to get back over to her, which the teen reluctantly did so, still keeping her guard up.

“Easy Kamala, you’re going to have out bursts, I did not need Rachel’s talk with us to know that. You’re not first person I met with the kind of conditions you have, the circumstances might be different but the life of S.H.I.E.L.D. agent can trigger same results,” Natasha assured her young charge, the older woman not intending to strike the child at every little surge of anger.

“Did you ever go through this?” Kamala asked meekly, not wanting to make eye contact in her moment of shame.

“I’m extremely over conditioned by the Red Room program, my mind is different than a normal person. I do have regrets, a whole ledger of them stained red, but do not think that makes you weak just because you can’t power through like I can,” Natasha assured the teenager who clearly was trying to compare herself to veteran heroes on how she ‘should be’.

After letting Kamala compose herself, they entered Tony’s lab to see simple black body suit a large black domino mask similar to what she wore when she first attempt to save Bruno’s brother Vick, so it covered more of her nose and forehead. The main difference was it was white lenses covered the eye holes.

Next to the suit was the emitter Natasha had taken from her earlier plus a second one from what Kamala could guess, but why two shields if the idea is to avoid combat if needed?

The final item was in Tony’s hands, a thin steel grey belt like object but had similar lining to inside of her nullifier on one side, why have that unless....

“First things first and let’s see if this can do that thing’s job while being a lot less noticeable, let it make contact with your skin rather than wearing over your clothes,” Tony instructed as he handed the belt to Kamala while she heard a beep and click come her wrist and felt a weight disappear as the device hit the ground.

Part of Kamala wanted shrink or grow in size to prevent having either object from being put on her, she felt safer with her powers but at the same time she felt...scared of what that would make her heroes think of her if she did that, so she reluctantly put the belt on.

“Um...is the lock enough or is this a show of trust I won’t try to break it? And how come that normal one is so bulky if you can make this?” Kamala asked she connected the two ends together, before felt the familiar uncomfortable feeling of her powers getting shut down.

“Stretch we trust you to be our eyes and ears in there, the lock is more for the sake of the deals we made to get you here as the ‘bait’ for the missing Inhumans case, if not for that we would be letting you go in ‘armed’ with your usual stuff. As why this one so different is mainly due to it being designed to be less noticeable while other is more to the standard of well the.... ‘prisoner’ thing we had to agree with,” Tony explained though looked a bit pained at the last part, since he had always tried to avoid making the teen feel like she actually a prisoner when he could.

Kamala had wonder who these deals where made with, she had to guess with at least S.H.I.E.L.D. given how Tony called up that Fury guy...he scared her, if that was at least one people she had please to get back to Jersey as Ms. Marvel...she was doomed to be crushed or burned by her other self forever.

Tony then moved onto the less familiar emitter and put it on before holding his arm out towards a target he had the far wall, making Kamala see a wave of energy fire out and hit the target like more like wave then a blast. It kind of reminded her of Shocker’s attacks, which her visibly shiver.

“Easy kiddo, not the same move at your ‘old friend’ did, think of it as a long range punch or at the very least very low powered version of the an unlocked down emitter’s energy blast . Don’t want you having anything lethal but still able to knock anyone back if you need to, much the same as this should do as well,” Tony assured the girl, before pulling his arm back like he is going to punch but his turn his wrist so it pointing upward and as it came forward, it rotated back what a normal punch would look like when extended and more short range version of the previous wave happened though probably packed more ‘punch’ from the sound and force of the burst from what Kamala could tell.

“The first one I’m hoping is all you need, but if something a bit tougher then human comes your way the punch version will be a nice surprise for them...here is hoping both won’t be needed but still better to have the option, as for the concern about the new hairdo or even just being recognized at Kamala, push this button and this give you a holodisguise we can load in for you if have any preferences or we can just slap one at random...down side is its ‘skin tight’ so clothing changes still required,” Tony instructed, before starting reaching for Kamala’s normal emitter when he noticed the girl taking a picture out her bracelet.

“Will she do?” Kamala asked, showing a picture of the only person she could still call a best friend...though Kamala had a feeling Nakia would not see her that way still, since Kamala never bothered to contact her when Kamala made the choice to runaway. This picture might be all Kamala had left when it came to her old friendship with the other girl.

“Friend from school?” Tony asked, taking the picture and noting the girl was a bit taller than Kamala but other than that should be easy enough. He would need to make image scale to Kamala’s actual body given the limits of the holodisguise.

“If anyone was closer to me as just Kamala then Bruno, it was her. Think that is the only picture of us I have with her not wearing her hijab,” Kamala answered thinking longingly of the other girl. She really could do with a friend her own age, but given how she screwed things up, Kamala knew being near teens other then this mission was not in her future for a good while.

“Should be easy enough to make work, let get back gear and I’ll work on it once we are done,” Tony said as he put the picture on the table before going back the original emitter.

“Only has one minor addition to this one, just raise above your head...” The tech genius explain as lifted the emitter up and a dome shield formed over him rather the traditional round one used like Captain America’s.

“So it’s a sword and shield combo pretty much?” Kamala asked, trying to figure out why not put all in one emitter over two.

“Spot on, easier to learn and handle as two separate device that use specific movements to trigger the effects. We have until Monday before you go to class, that two days get through the Black Widow training program plus get a handle on these and suite’s micro suction cups and the night vision in the mask,” Tony explained getting a raised eyebrow from Natasha.

“So that’s what you meant...would make up for lack of stretching she would use for mobility, but still since this ideally just gather information and call us in, why not just have her fall back the second things even look remotely dangerous rather than gearing her up for a full on mission?” Natasha asked, not liking the idea of using Kamala for this mission. The girl should not be in the field even as Kamala right now, to many risks if the people after her even thought she was out of the tower unguarded, let alone who ever the enemy was at the school...assuming they were not one and the same!

“Going by the logic she might as well turn around now and head back her room Nat, you know that,” Tony joked, though was giving his teammate a silent warning to back off before such talk hurt Kamala confidence, though the teen seemed more fascinated with the gear over the conversation.

“Should I put it on and get used to this stuff?” Kamala asked, kind of eager to become who ever this unofficial hero this outfit would make her.

“Not yet, you should get back to basic training with Natasha, we starting gearing training tomorrow,” Tony replied as he shooed the girl off, who was going pale at the thought more judo with the redheaded Russian.

“Do you people hate me?” Kamala grumbled, while her second teacher dragged her off and Tony humming the funeral march to poke fun at the Inhuman.

-

It was Monday morning and Kamala disguised a shorter version Nikia and wearing the Bilderberg Academy uniform of dark blue jacket with red at the edges, with a white dress shirt and red tie, followed with a beige skirt that went above her knees and a pair of brown shoes, getting dropped off by Pepper so to avoid the attention of any of the Avengers might bring.

“Are you sure you want to do this Kamala? Between those after you and your nightmares....” Pepper started to ask, but Kamala shook her head to cut the redhead off.

“The medication Rachel prescribed has been helping...at least a little...I need this Pepper, even if it’s not as Ms. Marvel like I wanted...I need this” Kamala pleaded, hoping being even a secret hero would at least make herself feel more like she was before that night.

“If you’re sure...just keep your promise and eat proper meals if you’re going to do this. Even Rachel agreed you need to get back of a healthy diet,” Pepper told the girl next to her, before both got out of the car and got Kamala’s bags out of the trunk, since staying in the dorms would make the mission easier.

“I promise...mom,” Kamala replied, knowing while it would easy to know the two were not related by blood, the cover story was she was adopted, so calling Pepper mom was just staying true to the cover. Kamala had kept her first name, but used her best friend’s surname of Bahadir for the school’s papers.

“I’ll keep you to that young lady!” Pepper replied, though how much was for the cover and was the woman being the ‘mom’ to Tony and at times to the other Avengers. Kamala still got defensive at times when Pepper did it, but Sheikh Abdullah’s video calls, plus some from Rachel had been helping Kamala get her snaps under control so she and Pepper could try and find the balance both needed give the teenager the feeling Pepper was not stealing her Ammi’s place and Pepper actually provide structure for the girl.

Kamala nodded her head in silent compliance, before turning to face the giant school gate ‘Begin mission impossible, hope this does not take too long, I won’t be able to talk anyone unless it’s an emergency...I actually feel scared now that I’m actually on my own again,’ Kamala thought, she headed for the dorms to drop her stuff off and get her schedule for the week.

-

Pepper got back in the car and quickly called Tony to let him know everything was starting.

“I have to say it again Tony, I don’t like this one bit! Kamala is in no shape for this...I would feel better if Steve was at least around, let alone Hulk!” Pepper stated firmly as she headed back to the tower.

“I know Pepper, but with a potential weapons program happening right in the middle of a school...for all we know those students are being used as test subjects or at least as shields,” Tony replied, the sound him flying in the Iron Man armor being heard in the back ground.

“Why are you not at the tower?” Pepper asked, knowing the plan was for Black Widow and Hawkeye to be nearby the school, while Thor and Tony would be on standby at the tower for any missions that came up or move in once the signal was given.

“I don’t like us being so short handed anymore then you do...and to be honest I want Stretch to have some help even closer then Widow and Hawkeye can be, so I’m ‘enlisting’ someone who could do that...only wished I thought of him sooner,” Tony explained, though Pepper could tell the man was getting annoyed with how long it was taking to track who ever this was down.

“Who else could get as close as Kamala and on such short notice?”

“A friendly neighborhood menace! I better find the slippery little bugger soon or I’ll do old JJ a favor and squash him!”

Pepper’s eyes widened as she realized who Tony was looking for, that would have been a much better choice then Kamala at this point and time!

“Tony I’m going to kill you the next time I see you!”

-

Three days...three days of searching and Kamala wanted to scream! She had checked the whole school and the only place left to look was that stupid special projects room 237! If she could only get close to the door when it was open or get one of those all access ID cards!

‘I swear I’m going to break this stupid nullifier and just go in all powers blazing!’ Kamala thought, as she walked around the school, only notice someone suspicious with Grady Scraps, one of the ‘elite’ students that had one of those special ID cards.

‘Who is that? No uniform but is pals with one of Monica Rappaccini’s favorites...’ Kamala thought, as she saw the boy with short brown hair and brown eyes, with mole next to his left eye.

Kamala took the chance sneak away when the boy got a uniform jacket from Grady, knowing she might need to contact Tony if the boy did anything else to make himself standout. Kamala knew she had bigger concerns; she thought it was about time to breakout her gear and maybe scope out room 237 tonight and hoped she can slip in somehow.

-

Kamala had waited for hours before making her moving and going out in the suit and mask Tony made her, dropping the holodisguise thinking that while the pink hair was not very stealthy but if she needed to switch back to her Nikia version, the hair change would make it easier to trick people.

‘Wonder if this is how Spider-Man feels when doing this?’ Kamala thought as she used micro suction cups in the suit to scale the wall and get to the roof, planning on keeping a watch for students who had access to that one room she still needed to check, praying they were heading for it for whatever the ‘special projects’ where.

As she made her way across the roof though, Kamala have sworn she heard a weird sound spurting sound, but she could not see anything when looked around.

“I really am going insane if I’m hearing things now!” Kamala grumbled as she turned around to go back to her mission, only find a red and blue colored costume with black spider webs going across it.

“Hi Pinky, going my way?” came a friendly male voice from under the full face mask, not knowing that was a trigger for girl right now.

Not wanting risk using her attack emitter due the noise they make, the energy shield sprung to life, Kamala brining the edge of it up to try and hit her target upside the temple.

Sadly for Kamala, her opponent back flipped out of the way and due to her footing not being good, Kamala could give chase fast enough on the roof to close gap again before Spider-Man just reached another section of the roof with ease.

“Wow, Mr. Stark said you might be mad but this is a bit silly don’t you think?” Spider-Man stated, his voice still friendly and teasing. It infuriated Kamala since it reminded her of how she used to be a lot of time until that night with Shocker.

‘”What are you talking about? I don’t know why you are here but...” Kamala started to say, but then the communicator the Avengers had given her beeped from the newer emitter and kept doing so that Kamala answered just to keep the noise down, to be greeted with the image of Iron Man from the projector for holo communicator that was also part the ‘attack’ emitter.

“Kiddo got word from Hawkeye from the ‘perch’ you are trying to kill your backup, please don’t...it took me forever to track him down!” The image of Iron Man joked though if his face had been visible, Kamala would have seen the man bracing for the tongue lashing he could see coming.

Kamala started shaking with furry and her expression was clearly showing the hurt was in her heart, Tony said they trusted her to be their eyes and ears in the school and now they send another teen hero in to babysit her!

“I had this Iron Man! You say you trust me but then without any warning you send someone else in after I did all this work already!” Kamala managed to say without screaming somehow, though the tears where starting flow at the betrayal this felt like, even if she was not truly part of the team. She was just bait and tool after all, so why was she so surprised?

“Easy kid, PJs will fill you in on the details but he was getting ready to head this way even if I had not found him. I only finally pinned him down after he nabbed a kid from this school who could be part of the weapons program...does the number 237 mean anything to you?” Iron Man asked, praying changing the subject in hopes it would keep Kamala from at least fully breaking down on the roof of the place that was possible hostile territory.

Kamala bit back the desire to explode at the man who said she did not need her powers, geared her up and had trained by Natasha for two days straight, only send an unshackled hero in any way!

“It’s a room in the school....it’s the only place I have left to check on the entire campus. It’s the place where ‘Special Projects’ are done by students chosen by Headmistresses Rappaccini,” Kamala finally managed to get out, clearly not happy but knew she needed to finish this. Then she could kill Stark in private before being sent to jail for the rest of her life...it would be totally worth it to be honest.

“Perfect! Get eyes on whatever these projects are if you can, once we know what we are dealing with the Avengers will move in. Spider-Man follow Pinky’s lead until then and keep her safe after from there,” Iron Man instructed, get salute from the wall crawler before cutting the communication.

Letting out a frustrated growl, Kamala stormed off but Spider-Man still interested in small talk.

“So, what do I call you? No one told me your code name or what you can do, so not sure what we got to work with in a tough spot,” The male teen asked, having an easy time keeping with the angry girl who was clumsily used the micro suction cups to scale down the building towards a nearby window.

“My name is classified, as what I can do it’s squashing annoying bug boys!” Kamala answered with another growl, wishing her attack options did not make so much noise so should send the spider themed hero packing.

“Plus stealing my moves, I should sue for copyright infringement!” Spider-Man teased, having much practice with the wall cling so easily kept up with the pinked headed ball of rage.

As the two teens made their way to room, Kamala prayed her fellow rookie had an off switch. So far Allah was not granting that prayer as he described the teen with super power to her, making her need to stop him from coming around the corner when she saw some students entering room 237.

‘Too far away, we can’t get to the fast enough with being noticed!’ Kamala thought as she watched students let door close behind them, only see Spider-Man stick his hand forward and fire a web line to snag the door handle before the door closed.

“Lucky shot!” Kamala stated, though only hide feelings of jealously he could do something she would have able to do if her powers still worked.

“Nope all skill Classified,” The other teen said with a bit of teasing smugness, making Kamala confused at the name until she realized that was technically the name he had been told. He had asked for a codename and she had been a smartass, so Spider-Man was working with what he been given.

‘Better then Pinky at least’ Kamala thought bitterly, before the duo headed for the door to start looking for whatever these ‘special projects’ where.

As they made their way in though doorway and into a stairway leading underground, both teen heroes discovered who was actually running the operation, A.I.M.!

“The school is a front for an A.I.M. experiment!” Kamala gasped, not sure how the criminal organization planned on using the students to advance their goals...if not for the mission the Avengers had given her, Kamala was unsure she would want to know.

“Heard of them but never dealt with them before, bunch of super science bad guys right? Iron Man is going to be impressed with me for this!” Spider-Man said, sounding almost gleeful and getting rise out of the pink haired girl.

“With you? I did all the work!” She shot back, drawing the attention the guards below.

“Oh fudge...” Kamala managed to say before the laser fire started heading towards them.

“Guess we interrupted their evil science fair! And fudge...really?” Spider Man asked, jumping to the middle of the stairway, creating a web barrier to slow pursuit. He also managed to web up a few of the A.I.M. goons into said barrier to hopefully encourage their allies to not just mindlessly cut through the webbing with their weapons.

“Oh shut up!” Kamala called back, providing covering fire with attack emitter’s long range energy blast; though it was clearly meant for single target combat since the time between shots was a few seconds. It was not meant for handling large groups of armed foes.

“Kinetic energy blast nice! Though looks like it’s time for us to bail!” Spider-Man called out as he finished his work, quickly making his way back to his partner in anti crime.

“No kidding!” Kamala called back as they both high tailed it out of there and hid in the bushes outside the school building’s nearest exit.

Kamala quickly realized something and looked to Spider-Man and said, “Quick, take off your costume!”

“What?” Spider-Man asked in shock, trying figure out why the girl would ask that of him at this point and time.

Rolling her eyes, Kamala pulled off her mask and turned on her Nikia holodisguise while saying, “The bad guys are looking for Spider-Man and the girl with pink hair.”

“Oh...and here I was thinking I finally won you over with my charm...owe!” Spider-Man teased once he understood the plan, only to get punched in the arm by an annoyed Kamala.

Quickly putting on their civilian clothes, they the climbed out of the bushes and sat on a nearby bench, Kamala grabbing the boy’s arm and leaning her head on the unknown boy’s shoulder, hoping this move would keep A.I.M. from questioning why they where there.

After being told by the headmistress/A.I.M. leader to be one foot apart and calling them ‘love birds’ the two breathed a sigh of relief that the plan worked.

“That was close!” Kamala exclaimed as she tried to let her heart beat finally slow down after all that panic. The laser fire was a lot scarier without a healing factor to save you from bad luck or poor choices.

“In more ways than one...sorry habit, quips and one liners are kind of my thing!” The boy replied, looking relieved at first but quickly held his hands up defensively when Kamala raised her fist to punch him again.

After taking moment to calm herself again Kamala looked at the boy with an apologetic expression.

“Sorry about being a jerk earlier when on the roof and when talking to Tony but...this was to be my chance to prove myself to the Avengers and was not counting a babysitter/bodyguard. Thought they at least trusted me enough to at least wait full week before thinking I needed help,” Kamala explained as she got up and started walking towards some shadows so she could access the special programs on her phone to starting calling in backup.

“Hardly what Mr. Stark sent me here for Classified, he made clear I was to provide you with super powered backup and only protect you if things got really bad. Seeing your gear, I say you only need me doing the ‘bodyguard’ thing if some kind of superhuman level threat shows up,” Spider-Man explained, getting into the shadows with his partner.

“Either way, A.I.M. is running this school which means it’s time to contact Tony and others. This gear was only meant keep me safe until I found out what was going on, Black Widow’s warnings alone hammered it into me they were the ones to do any heavy lifting and I was just the scout,” a depressed Kamala replied as she went through the confirm secure communication process, wanting to be extra sure A.I.M. thought it was only some unknown rookie and Spider-Man were their only concern and not the A-Team.

“Oh I thought we still have one more objective to left before we call for backup? Remember Mr. Stark said find out what the special project was, we only know who running it,” The boy said with a smirk, which made Kamala stop running program and look up with a smirk of her own.

“Got a plan to do that? We need one of those all access ID cards if we are going to get back down there.” Kamala asked, starting to think her backup was not so bad, he made her feel like an equal once she got past his constant wise cracks.

“I know a guy,” Spider-Man said with a smirk, which only took a moment for Kamala a second to remember who the boy was referring to. They had an in after all, maybe Kamala wouldn’t kill Tony after all, she was going to make him pay but she would let him live.

‘Let’s see, I need make Hawkeye and Hulk pay for my hair and Tony pay for the backstabbing...oh do I have plans for you three!’ Kamala thought, as another piece of advice from Rachel came to mind when it came mind, try to reengage in hobbies that she used enjoy before all the bad events happened. Time for the fanfiction writer Slothbaby to make a comeback, once Kamala could get some alone time with a computer.

-

While the two teens plotted their next move, Hawkeye and Black Widow where watching from the roof top from a building near the school with binoculars. This was the ‘perch’ as Tony had called it earlier, a good place for two to see anything that happened on the school ground and also let them rush in to help Kamala if she was in trouble or called for help.

Seeing A.I.M. soldiers come out of school had made Hawkeye move to grab his quiver, but was stopped by Black Widow, much to his surprise.

“Nat, what are you doing? That’s...” Hawkeye started say, but a look from his old S.H.I.E.L.D. partner made him stop, not out of fear but knowing the look the woman gave when it told him to have patience.

“Kamala had her phone out, but Spider-Man must have said something that made her put it away and while he does make mistakes his file does state he is creative and good at analyzing situation. Let’s trust them a bit longer,” Black Widow assured the sharpshooter, who settled back into his position watch over their charge and her new teammate.

-

As Kamala used a different program on her phone to track down where Grady Scraps’ dorm room Spider-Man asked a question that surprised Kamala.

“What’s like being an Avenger in training? Bet it will be nice not being called a menace by the people you’re saving,” The young asked, sounding envies of Kamala of all people.

“I wish it’s was like that, I’m...working...with them for different reasons I can’t say,” Kamala managed to get out, sounding depressed since the idea being trained to be an Avenger would have had the old Kamala as giddy as a school girl...the irony of that mental comment was not lost on her since she was in a school uniform right now.

“Well you got have caught their eye if they still called you in instead of Ms. Marvel, don’t care if she had one moment weakness, Shocker is still alive so why not let her in on this? Would have been faster than tracking me down,” The other teen said casually, finally causing a crack in Kamala’s armor.

“Finally someone gets it! She’s at least trying to eat again, seeing a therapist, trying to not hide the nightmares and yet they send me instead of her!” Kamala said in expiration, catching Spider-Man by surprise.

“And here I thought I took the failing to save someone hard, hope I get to meet her someday since I think she would understand it,” the boy replied, though did gesture for Kamala to tone it down.

“What do you mean ‘it’?” Kamala asked, blushing a bit at her carelessness at speaking so loud when they needed to NOT draw attention to themselves.

Spider-Man looked pained for a moment but seemed push it back and say the words that where the very foundation of what he was, “The man I failed tried to teach me, ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’ but I did not learn what that meant until it was too late, now I try to embody that saying as best I can in his memory.”

“How long did it take for you to heal? Ms. Marvel is so lost, she feels like she is going insane,” Kamala asked, praying her phrasing was keeping the other hero from seeing who she really was.

“Heal? I felt sad and lost, but sounds like Ms. Marvel took it harder than I did...I was not yet Spider-Man yet when I failed so becoming him gave me a focus and a feeling like I’m at least trying to repent, but Ms. Marvel, she was already doing the hero thing when her moment came...she had further to fall...I’m not therapist though so probably best you don’t tell...Classified?” Spider-Man explained as he best could, only to his companion fall to her knees and start hugging herself in an attempt to keep her body from trembling as the tears started to flow.

“How...how can you do it? I failed and fell to pieces and yet you just kept going...what is your secret? How do I become her again?” Kamala pleaded, needing know her fellow rookie achieve what she could not, not believing it was just a simple ‘become a hero’ there had to be more too it...there just had to be!

Spider-Man’s eyes widened as he realized what the girl before him was saying, he was already talking to Ms. Marvel! Of all the times for him to drop some half assed theory of why he was able to be Spider-Man and while she was trying to find her back to being her other self!

“Ms. Marvel, I’m sorry and if you want to talk about it more I’m all for it, but right now we have a job to do, a RESPONSIBILITY and the power to do it...you have come this far, now let’s finish it!” Spider-Man stated firmly, hoping the earlier mentioned philosophy would resonate with his fellow hero and grant that last bit of strength to power through.

“I don’t have any power anymore, just these!” Kamala sobbed, holding her wrists to show the emitter on each one.

“And so far I have seen one fire an energy blast and the other make a shield, that is still power! I’m not sure about your normal abilities, but if you say you don’t have them then I believe you, but can you accept leaving this half finished?” Spider-Man asked firmly, knowing a stop here could be bad for the fallen heroine.

Kamala for moment wanted say she could not keep going, but then recalled Spider-Man’s saying and knew what little power she could still call on had job to do. She would finish this!

Forcing herself to her feet, Kamala whispered “Thank you” just before her phone let out a beep signaling it narrowed down Grady’s location.

“You welcome, now let’s finish A.I.M. off and go grab a pizza. We can share our sob stories on a rooftop over an extra pepperoni and cheese!” the boy joked, making Kamala force a laugh out before they made their way for the dorm room of their target.

Both decided it was time to get back into their costumes...well for Kamala it was more of stand in for one, she missed her old red and blue with bits of yellow over this skin tight black body suit.

-

Getting the card was easy, since the headmistress had knocked on Grady’s door while Spider-Man was moving into position on the other boy’s ceiling, so when Grady went to answer the door a quick web line snatched it up before anyone noticed and now both waited for their chance to get into the secret lab area once the Headmistress, Grady and two other students went in.

“Grady does not seem like such a bad guy, how come you think he is working for A.I.M.?” Spider-Man asked Kamala, who simply shrugged in equal confusion, as both followed in at a safe distance.

“Don’t know, all I get is that he is supposed to be smart. Maybe he just in for the science and does not realize what he is getting into?” Kamala offered, admitting she did not get the ‘bad guy’ vide, from the boy.

Both were shocked though when they discovered what the project doing, the two students were going to be the weapons and even worse, they were using Hulk, Captain America and Captain Marvel as part of the experiment!

Kamala may be mad at Hulk but she did not want him being treated like this and do this Steve of all people! He was first of the Avengers she had started forming a personal connection with, even if it was due to him making fun of her punches! And of course anyone who treated her idol like a battery was in big trouble, which was just asking for fangirl levels of wrath!

“We got to help them!” Kamala exclaimed, but was held back by Spider-Man who reminded her they would not be able to reach them in time, all the while they were forced watch one of the students get the combine powers of three heroes get drained from their bodies and channeled into him.

The two teen heroes were horrified to see a boy named Douglas, a bully from what Kamala remembered from her time roaming the halls the last few days, get turned into a bulky green monster with green glowing eyes.

“I think we got enough confirmation, sending the distress signal...though even with Black Widow and Hawkeye nearby, I’m not sure if we should head outside or just wait here for orders,” Kamala said she got her phone and used the code screen normally used to unlock the screen to trigger the signal.

“You sure they will even get the signal let alone the big guns?” Spider-Man asked, not liking the look of the situation of leaving things as they were, not that Kamala was liking it anymore than him.

“I sure hope they do, because even if I was allowed to be doing hero work and had my powers unlocked, I doubt we can fight all of A.I.M.’s forces plus Douglas with the combined powers of three of Earth’s most formidable heroes,” The pink haired girl explained, which was not helping the spider themed vigilante feel better about whole scenario.

“So hypothetically speaking, what would happen if I went rouge and tried to free them and you just happened to still be in the room to provide covering fire if and when I got caught?” The boy offered, hoping give Kamala an out and still let them do the right thing by helping two Avengers and highly respected fellow hero.

“I really want to say yes but I’m in that much hot water right now I can’t just dive in....even for friends like Cap and Hulk!” The dejected Inhuman replied, her head hung low at the feelings of shame she was unable to save two people who had started forming friendships with her or her idol.

“Good point, guess we better...oh crap!” Spider-Man started to say, but then his spider sense kicked in and both teen saw the powered up Douglas floated to their location near the three adult heroes and unleash an energy blast at them, making Kamala active her shield an Spider-Man back flip down to the ground.

Kamala’s shield protected her, but she allowed it to still push her off from the rafters they had been standing on, and into the waiting arms of her teammate.

“Nice trust fall Classified, how did you know?” Spider-Man teased, as he put Kamala down and let her get into a battle stance.

“Isn’t it a hero’s job to catch the girl?” Kamala joked back, almost feeling like herself, the rush of the fight awakening some of her old spirit. It also helped Spider-Man seemed equally relaxed despite the odds being against them.

“True, but you do know that means we got to kiss when this all over right?” Spider-Man quipped, as he fired compressed web bullets at incoming A.I.M. soldiers.

“In your dreams web head...oh fudge in coming Douglas!” Kamala shot back with laugh before looking up to see the big green hulk wannabe came crashing down on them but the two teens dove out of the way.

“Then time for superhero team-up! And again...FUDGE?!” Spider-Man said during an aerial flip that let him kick Douglas a kick to the face while Kamala used the rotating wrist motion to trigger the power punch feature on her attack emitter that let her send the monster boy flying across the room.

Kamala was shooting Spider-Man a friendly glare, while Monica Rappaccini went on some rant about being the Scientist Supreme and the leader of A.I.M., before pressing a button on her necklace, giving her a golden helmet, gloves and boots, a green energy blast firing from one of her glove towards Spider-Man, but he ducked, before firing a blast a webbing to her face plate to blind her and make the A.I.M. leader stumble back into two her own men.

Sadly, more and more A.I.M. forces gathered in the room, forcing Kamala to use her last secret trick and create shield dome around them both as they got back to back.

“Glad you saved this trick for last, gives me a chance to reload,” Spider-Man sighed with relief, quickly taking out two web cartridges out his belt that had been hidden by the tights, and swapped them for the empty ones in his web shooters.

“You mean you don’t just make those yourself?” Kamala asked in confusion, thinking the webs had been part of his powers.

“Nope, sadly I need tech for my webs which sucks because this stuff is not cheap to make” Spider-Man explained, while the two tried to figure out how to get out of this mess.

Sadly A.I.M. had a simple counter for Kamala final trump card, an EMP grenade thrown by a very upset Scientist Supreme, who did not like being made a fool of by Spider-Man earlier and wanted her men to gun the brats down once that pesky dome was dealt with.

Kamala screamed as her various pieces of equipment got shorted out, the bits of sparks burning her skin as the two emitter on her wrists, the night vision her mask and the nullifier belt under her clothes got disabled rather harshly from the EMP wave.

“You okay Classified?” Spider-Man asked, wanting to kneel down to help the girl, but knew he needed to be ready to fend off not only A.I.M. forces and Douglas, but now a second super powered monster as the second student came out of the chamber that had empowered Douglas.

A.I.M.’s leader was about to gloat, when a male voice called out, “Give her a minute and Pinky will show these moron who they are messing with!”

Shortly after this, three exploding arrows where fired into various spot in the room to scatter the A.I.M. forces, followed by a barrage of electric bolts, making Spider-Man look up to see Black Widow jumping from the staircase to rush to Kamala’s side, while Hawkeye stayed on the stairs to rain tricks arrows from above.

“I could have sworn I told you to leave the heavy lifting to us!” Black Widow scolded Kamala, while she and Spider-Man kept firing their range attacks at anyone stupid enough to look in this general direction until the girl’s healing factor got her back in the fight.

“This was my idea not hers, figured you might not get the signal and tried talking her into saving the others. We got caught as she tried to talk me down,” Spider-Man explained as dove at the second student to get turned into a monster, tricking it into charge him, before the spider teen jumped over him and web lined the monster’s butt and threw him across the room and into more troops.

“That better be what happened...are you healed yet? Once you’re done, let see if we can wrap this up without Iron Man and Thor” Black Widow stated, sound firm at first but got gentle when asking if Kamala was almost healed.

“Yeah I think I’m done, but how can we win without...oh...really?! I can go all out!” Kamala asked in confusion at first, but then saw the smirk and nod on Widow’s face.

Kamala felt giddy as she called out her catch phrase and Embiggened her arms and fists that let her smack aside groups of A.I.M. forces aside with ease. She wanted to go on a smack down spree but saw Grady being thrown towards the chamber by Monica, so she dove to catch him before reach the entrance with her out enlarged hands, stopping the chubby boy inches from his destination.

“Few...thanks...as I was telling Spider-Man before that happened, we need to get the two students back into the chamber and reverse the process so we can recharge your friends. I never meant for any of this, I was told they volunteered for the research!” Grady explained, get a sympathetic smile from Kamala.

“We all make mistakes, I’m a walking mistake if that helps,” The pink haired teen said encouragingly, though heard a disproving cough from Black Widow, who clearly overheard what Kamala had said. That’s was piece of advice Rachel had given all the Avengers, stop Kamala from negative self criticism and get her focused on positives when possible.

‘If A.I.M. does not kill me, Natasha will make me wish I was dead,’ Kamala concluded mentally, though thankfully Spider-Man gave her a distraction from her impending doom.

“Classified, I got super teen one, grab two and throw him into the chamber so we can send the power back up stream!” The red and blue clad hero called out, firing a web shot into Douglas’ face to confuse/blind him and let a web line from both shooters into his chest and started whipping him around in a circle until he had enough momentum to fling monster teen into the chamber.

“Sending power back up stream does not sound like real science! Is that real science?” Kamala asked Grady as she got him back to the control station, then out stretched her arms to snag the last transformed student.

“I’m willing to work with it if it will help fix my part in this!” Grady replied, not caring what Spider-Man terminology used, just that the idea behind it ended this chaos and made things right!

As Kamala got her designated target into the chamber, Grady shut the door and began the reversal process while the two teens and two Avengers covered him from attack. The same electrical surge that had sent power down from the pods holding the trio of heroes to the ceiling to the students, it now was sent back up, hopefully give their allies enough strength to fight.

Upon the transfer’s completion the three chambers lowered down to the ground, having Kamala run over to check on Captain America first of the trio, her place as his semi unwilling student clearly overriding the fangirl in her with Captain Marvel right next to him. Probably also helped Kamala did not want her idol finding out who she was seeing how Ms. Marvel was currently a disgrace in the superhero community.

“Cap are you okay?” Kamala asked lending as much of shoulder to lean on as she could with her petite form, though she expected once super soldier serum had chance to do its thing, the America flag themed hero would probably able help finish cleaning up these A.I.M. goons.

“Marvel...what are doing here? And what happened to your hair?” Captain America asked, his head still fuzzy from being sedated and drained by A.I.M. to make sure he could not free himself.

“Long story, ask Hulk...speaking of which move Spider-Man,” Kamala ordered, before enlarging her right arm and slamming into Hulk’s face. Even his weakened state though, Hulk barely got knocked over by the blow and started glaring at her.

“Give me 5 minutes Marvel and I’m putting over my knee...what did you do to Hawkeye that used the dye for Thor’s prank on you as well?” Hulk grunted out, getting a raised eyebrow from Captain America, who was starting to get an idea of what happened.

“He thought both bottles where Thor’s! Now I’m stuck like this until I can find a way to wash it out...seeing how Tony owes me for his lack of trust, he better have solution for this!” Kamala screamed at the giant green rage machine, still very upset she got caught up a prank meant for the thunder god.

“Why do you guys keep calling her Marvel? That’s my code name with the exception that kid from...oh that’s who you are...been meaning to talk to you!” Captain Marvel managed to get out after taking some time shake the cobwebs from her own head enough to focus on the conversation.

Kamala gulped loudly at this declaration but was at least given a brief reprieve when the leader of A.I.M. called out, “You may have stopped this operation, but now have at least the two you to add to experiment along with whatever we can gain from the Black Widow and Hawkeye!”

“Oh will you just stop talking!” Kamala yelled as she sent really long punch out towards the woman, hitting with enough force to finally knock the egoistical scientist out!

“Thank you Ms. Marvel!” Captain America said, relieved someone could finally shut that mad woman up. She had made sure to gloat heavily when he was captured, so that was enough want punch the scientist out himself if he had the strength. Sentiment shared by both Captain Marvel and Hulk.

This was of course when Thor smashed through the ceiling using his god strength and Mojlnir break through from all the way from the surface, Iron Man flying in behind the god of thunder.

“Someone send a distress signal? Also, pizza is on the way, made sure beef based pepperoni Pinky...by the way PJs, what is your intentions with our ward?” Tony quipped out, noting all his and Thor’s arrival did was make the last of A.I.M.’s forces lose the will to fight.

“One: Why did you wait until we did all the work? Two: How the heck did you know about the pizza? Three: What do you mean intentions? We just met!” Spider-Man shot back, while everyone looked at the boy with a mix of confusion and suspicion.

“One no comment, two no comment, three I know pickup lines when I hear them, start talking!” Tony countered, while the rest of the gathered heroes tried their best to deal with A.I.M.

Well with the expectation of a certain pink haired former superherione and the one who had inspired her. No one had a chance to notice the blonde snatched her up and leave by the hole made by Thor.

-

Kamala was dropped on the roof the school building, while Captain Marvel floated in front her with arms crossed and a stern expression on the older woman’s face.

“Okay I want to know a few things mini me, first of which is why THAT name of all things! I might not have been using it, but its a little weird when someone with no connection to me starts calling herself Ms. Marvel,” The older Marvel demanded form the very scared teen.

“I-I-I...I been fan for a long time...you where my inspiration even before I got my powers! When I first got them I was still able to consistently shape shift and I accidently turned into you when you where Ms. Marvel and save my first person using that form...so it kind of felt like fate when I needed a name once I had my own costume rather than changing into you!” Kamala explained as best she could while under the judging gaze the one hero that stood above all other in her own mind.

Captain Marvel wanted to face palm at the idea of fangirl snatched up her old code name, but from what she had heard of how fast the teen had been thrust into the hero life, it made sense she would not exactly had time find her own identity over using something she could connect with on the spot.

“Alright...not the worse reason I can think of...so then what happened that night that set you off? The reports I can access through my connections to S.H.I.E.L.D. only gives me sparse info at best...all my research on prior to that night showed no signs of girl capable of nearly roasting a man alive! Something made that more personal than it should have been!” The Captain asked, less forceful but was still giving the impression she wanted answer to why the girl baring her old name went from a bright eyed optimist to Punisher levels of vengeance.

Kamala became out right terrified of this question, it would reveal the true depths of how far she had fallen to idol. The Inhuman could not dare to reveal the utter failure she was, all while working under the name of woman before her!

“I...I...” Kamala started say, trying to find any way out this explanation, when the voice other Captain she knew called out, “That is enough Danvers!”

Both Marvel’s looked to see Captain America getting a lift thanks to Iron Man by holding onto his wrists and launched upward when the red and gold hero did a somersault, sending Cap flying to the roof and landing next to Kamala.

“Hey this is a private conservation Rogers!” Captain Marvel barked out the other captain, but was cut off from any further action when Iron Man flew up behind her.

“Doesn’t matter, she is under our watch and you just took off with her when we weren’t looking, you want to grill her for info clear it with my assistant Pepper Potts. Good luck with that by the way!” Tony stated with his face plate open and glaring at the original Ms. Marvel, while Captain scooped Kamala up into his arms and held her out to Iron Man.

“I can still...” Kamala started say, assuming her micro suction cups should still work, but was stopped by shake of Cap’s head.

“Spider-Man will be up soon, you two wait for that pizza and relax. We adults will deal with the final clean up...among other things,” Captain America instructed, while Iron Man took Kamala from his arms and flew her down to the ground.

“She admires you Danvers, back off until she is ready or she will only force herself to say things that will cause more hurt for herself!” The older captain warned, taking the shield from his back and holding it ready like he expected a fight.

Captain Marvel scoffed at the soldier’s attempt to act tough and countered her glare and let her clenched fists glow with energy while saying, “She’s been using my name Rogers! Her costume used my colors! She slapped my old symbol on her chest! That makes me responsible for her actions by default in a lot of peoples’ eyes, I need answers to what is going on and she has them!”

“No you don’t! You gave up the right to name when you started going by Captain! The colors, the symbol those are not yours alone either! They are hers to use when she is ready again and if you want argue the point, feel free to come around when she is back on the streets...but she won’t be alone when you come looking for her!” Captain America countered, daring the ex air force pilot to try anything.

“You think you scare me Rogers? You may be tough, but I’m a bit above your weight class” Captain Marvel stated with a smirk, almost looking smug.

“No my TEAM should scare you! That would not be a fight, it would be over before it began...now either help us with A.I.M. or leave, your business with Ms. Marvel is done until we say otherwise!” Captain America said with finality that left no room for argument and made his way down by climbing down the wall using window ledges for foot and hand rests.

Captain Marvel wanted to just leave after Captain America’s challenge, but A.I.M. had used her create human weapons so it felt wrong to not make sure they had been dealt with so she floated back down to go make sure the bastards got arrested.

-

Meanwhile Iron Man waited with Kamala until Spider-Man arrived, not wanting her to be alone with a certain blonde Marvel nearby. True Spider-Man alone would be almost no match for Captain Marvel but Iron Man figured the blonde woman would not cause trouble if she could not get Kamala alone.

“So...where was the bug? In the mask or one of the emitters...would not be surprised if it was in the nullifier belt,” Kamala asked, if for no other reason to break the silence that was driving her more insane then she already was.

Iron Man laughed at this, kind of glad the question since he was not liking the silence either so opened his face plate up again and gave the girl a smirk, “I planted it in all of them actually, wanted to make sure anything of use to you later was on record so I bugged your weapons and nullifier plus installed a ‘nanny cam’ program in your night vision lenses, you see something wearing those, I see it! Well until you got hit with that EMP that is.”

This made Kamala look horrified at she was being spied on at all times when undercover...was she even alone when wearing her normal nullifier!

“Of use to me...how is any of this of use to me?! I feel more like a prisoner then I did back at the tower! You did not even tell me about these bugs, let alone warning me you had Spider-Man coming to help! How can you tell me you trust me to be the eyes and ears for the team and then tell me you where spying on me the whole time?” Kamala demanded, making it clear she was not letting Tony off that easy.

Iron Man was about reply when Captain America added his own thoughts on the matter, “You did not tell her any of that? I leave for a few days and this is what happens when I can’t help run an operation? Tony you’re lucky she did not attack Spider-Man!”

“I did! Good thing he was just too fast and I was on a roof!” Kamala cried out in exasperation, thinking Iron Man must be as crazy as she was if thought keeping any of this to himself was a good idea!

Iron Man shut his face plate once Kamala yelled that out, knowing Cap was going to be glaring at him in a moment and Tony did not want the super soldier to see him getting nervous...yup there it was.

“Tony...we are going to go over this back at the tower...then you’re going to tell Ms. Marvel what she gets from those recordings!” Captain America ordered the man who was the on paper leader of the team but most agreed it was shared role between the two of them, something Iron Man was well aware of.

Kamala was starting think she was no longer part of this conversation, but thankfully Spider-Man finally showed up and looked confused at the standoff between the two heroes.

“Do I want to know?” Spider-Man asked, getting a hasty shake of Kamala’s head...thankfully for everyone’s sake the pizza showed up at that time, giving Iron Man a distraction from Cap since he was paying for the pizza and the two teens had an excuse to go back to the spot they met and away from all the building drama.

-

An hour later, Kamala had finished listening to Spider-Man’s story about his Uncle Ben and origin of the phrase that made up his very foundation of being hero, to hear how boy went from using his powers for money to someone willing to face constant slander from the Daily Bugle was actually a bit inspiring.

“It feels like I did everything in reverse to you, I started out by wanting to do the right thing but I wonder if once I got a taste of the freedom being Ms. Marvel gave me, I started doing it for that as reason as well” Kamala wondered aloud, as Spider-Man took a bit of pizza with his mask half up.

“What do you mean?” The other teen asked, confused that the girl next to him would think that from what little heard of what was going on Jersey both before and after the events with Shocker. Nothing implied Ms. Marvel had been doing anything other than the right thing, other than the one video that showed she was arguing with the Khans thank to a passerby’s cell phone, but no clue what it was about. That video was also what showed the kidnapping a short while later, so it was the only known connection between Ms. Marvel and them.

Kamala winced at the question, but unlike with Captain Marvel, Kamala felt more willing to share with Spider-Man for some reason. Maybe because they had to be close in age or that he was sharing things with her while Captain Marvel was mainly after answers possibly?

“Well you see...my family was very strict in what I can and can’t do. Parties and boyfriends are not allowed, I’m not even allowed to be alone with boy...kind of breaking that rule right now,” Kamala joked sadly, giving Spider-Man a small smile before she continued.

“When I became Ms. Marvel though, not only was I’m able do what was right, but what I wanted! I was in control, not my parents or our culture, just me...so I started focusing being Ms. Marvel so much it got the attention of Abu and Ammi and they punished me pretty harshly thinking I was going down the wrong path” The pink haired girl explained, then realized the other boy was confused at the words Abu and Ammi and blushed at her mistake.

“My Dad and Mom I mean...but like I said, that got their attention, they stepped in and punished me more harshly then they had previously by taking things I held dear and tossing them out like they were trash...I just lost it and ran away from home like a spoiled child...” Kamala explained, easily noticing Spider Man looking shocked at this but also like he was realizing something.

“You said you ran away...didn’t news mention a runaway who was connected to the two people who died in that explosion?” Spider-Man asked, which made Kamala wince but she simply took her mask off hold her hand out the fellow rookie hero.

“I’m Kamala Khan, those people where my parents and that....was why I really wanted to just drop Shocker into the flames if he did not tell me who was really behind that attack,” Kamala figured the only reason Spider-Man had not guessed who she was when took her mask off before turning her holo disguise back on to fool the perusing A.I.M. troops.

Instead of taking Kamala hand or slapping it away like she had expected, spider pull her into a hug and whispered, “Never forget I almost took the life of the man who took Uncle Ben from me, I know that feeling...don’t let it control you if you ever find these people who used your parents as bait.”

“It’s not that easy...I hear their voices in my dreams...they won’t stop...” Kamala tried to whisper back, but a slightly tighter hug made her stop, than watched him pull away and take his own mask off the rest of the way.

“Not sure about those dreams, but what I can say you got both Spider-Man and Peter Parker in your corner now, you need anything I’ll be there, if you don’t think you can stop yourself from crossing the line then just send me to do it and I’ll force feed a whole web cartridge down their throats!” The boy answered, not willing to let the girl stain her hands with blood.

Kamala realized what the boy had just said, he just...trusted her with his secret! But why, she had admitted her secret because he had pretty much figured it out anyway, but for him to do the same...why?

Before Kamala could ask though, a zip line from Back Widow’s gauntlet shot the corner of the roof and allowed her to quickly climb up to the two teens.

“Masks on you two, clean up is almost done. Last of the A.I.M. members are being taken by the police...please tell me what is left is not her half,” Widow asked as she noticed 2 slices left in the box. The Russian woman knew for a fact healing made the petite girl hungry beyond belief.

“I’m pretty sure that is my half, been sharing stories of my own issues when I got started,” Peter commented, since he had done most of the talking for the hour he was pretty sure Kamala had been eating...actually he could not recall how many he had. He knew of at least two...what the heck!

“Good and glad to hear you have her back, I’ll make sure to text her number to you later,” Widow said with smirk when Kamala started glaring at her.

“Do all of you spy on me now? And what number can you send him when the only phone I have had is this one and it’s fried! Wait...how do you even have his...do you read everyone S.H.I.E.L.D. file or something?” The annoyed pink haired teen demanded, which only got worse when Black Widow just repelled down the building.

Kamala came to the conclusion she was going kill Natasha before they put another nullifier on her, so she put the mask back on and looked to Spider-Man.

“I need down there now, I got squash a different spider so can you give me a lift?” Kamala asked, getting a smirk from her new friend.

“Please, she just pretends to be what I am, if I can’t catch up with her then I’ll eat my tights!”

-

Kamala never did get to kill Natasha, the woman used her cloaking tech to disappear just as Spider-Man got Kamala to the ground and add to the distractions Captain America needed them to talk with the police for a statement, making both teens go pale...though Spider-Man’s less obvious because of his full face mask.

“I thought I was supposed to a secret!” Kamala squeaked out, dreading what would happen if word got out Ms. Marvel was back doing hero work so soon after being ‘arrested’ by the Avengers.

“Me and the boys in blue have love hate relationship! Love the gift wrapping, hate the one doing the wrapping!” Spider-Man added, clearly looking like he was thinking of web slinging out of there.

Cap shook his head with a smile gestured for them to follow while saying, “Both of you will be fine, they only know ‘Classified’ was our mole on loan from S.H.I.E.L.D. and we asked Spider-Man for help. The police won’t touch either of you...just no saying a certain other rookie hero’s code name please, no need to draw more attention to her at the moment to her.”

Both knew it the Captain meant Ms. Marvel, so at least one issue was resolved though Kamala could tell Spider-Man was not as sure about being near law enforcement, even when under the protection of the Avengers.

Upon arriving with officer in charge, they found a tall man with short white hair but still had years to go before he had to leave force, Kamala noted seemed less nervous but still on edge at the site of the man.

“Captain Stacy,” Spider-Man said respectfully, he never needed out right run from the cops but thanks to Jameson, police were still on the fence most of the time with occasional officer looking like they wanted to arrest him. George Stacy though was one Spider-Man could trust, even though Peter Parker was less sure since him and Gwen where still in a rough patch after whole incident with the photos of the Lizard being given to the Daily Bugle. Good thing that man did not know the two where one and the same.

“Ah Spider-Man, its seems you are starting to go after a lot of big threats lately, Vulture, Electro, Lizard and now A.I.M. are we going to need to starting doing our jobs again or you still going after the small fry?” Captain Stacy asked, eying the boy in front of him. He seemed familiar, but George could not figure out yet what their connection could be, the voice and personality seemed familiar but nothing ever did come to mind.

“Hey I got at least half a dozen of those small fry last week alone...though those bigger bads are really making it hard I admit,” Spider-Man admitted, his time being greatly drained by the sudden increase in super villains.

“Well best we wrap this up, I’m pretty sure both you and...Classified was it...need to be getting home,” Captain Stacy commented, noting a pained look on the pink head’s face but it disappeared as fast as it came and made him wonder what S.H.I.E.L.D. was doing with a girl so young, but put those thoughts aside he went over her and Spider-Man’s role in the mission, clearly any identity based information being omitted.

As they finished up though a voice Spider-Man knew as Peter Parker called out, “Ned Leeds Daily Bugle, care answer questions?”

The young dark haired reporter clearly was eager get an interview with so many big time heroes plus the local rookie, but was clearly thrown off when he looked towards Kamala seeing how a Pink haired girl dressed black was weird even by hero standards. She also noted the reporter grumbled something ‘Where is Parker when you need him’ and gave Kamala an idea.

“Afraid no time for questions Mr. Leeds and as for your photographer, I confiscated his camera since this is a SHIELD operation as much as its Avengers business, I need to confirm what photos can be made public,” Kamala stated firmly before turning around to look at her mentor.

“A word on that Captain?” was all she needed to say for the man dressed in the nation’s colors to know what the girl was up to and smirked at her.

-

“That’s right you little pretender...scream! This is for you daring to talk to my idol without permission and then refusing to tell her what a failure you are!” Ms. Marvel growled out she twisted Kamala’s arm, tossing the remains of attack emitter aside after crushing it in her enlarged hand.

The fight for once let Kamala land some hits in on her vengeful other self with the long range emitter and she guessed despite her parents’ voices could inflict great pain on her, they did not seem to weaken Tony Stark’s tech.

Sadly the rush of confidence of finally dealing damage on her better self made Kamala get reckless and try and charge in for the power punch in hopes of finally knocking Ms. Marvel into the wall of flames that surrounded them and all that did was get grabbed and slammed into the ground and her twisted.

Kamala wanted to counter by saying Captain Marvel was her idol that the two of them where the same person, but the pain was too great and all she could was scream as her arm kept twisting, know the cracking sound was mere moments away...until a new voice called out, “Need a hand Classified?”

Ms. Marvel barely had time to turn her face towards the source of the voice, only have two red slam into her face as Spider-Man somehow swung into the scene despite there bring nothing for his webs to cling to.

As the swing kick sent Ms. Marvel flaying to the edge of the ring of fire, Spider-Man got to Kamala side and help her back to her feet.

“You okay Kamala? How’s the arm?” Spider-Man asked, concern clearly in his voice though the mask his expression.

“I’ll be okay...but we need to escape, she too strong...she beat Black Widow and she’s an Avenger!” Kamala begged, not wanting to risk her fiend’s safety just so she could maybe wake up from a full night’s rest.

“Don’t need to win, just buy you time. Now if you’ll excuse I got a stretchy nut job to deal with!” Spider-Man told, Kamala, before making a dash towards the recovering Ms. Marvel.

Seeing her charging opponent, Ms. Marvel sent and out stretch punch towards the boy, but watched the agile teen just side step with ease, so the second first went flying out while she retracted the first.

Second punch made the spider themed hero jump into the to dodge, not getting a chance to avoid to see the returning first hand until was too late and get grabbed by the ankle and held up helplessly in the air.

“Nice try you annoying chatter box but hmf!” Ms. Marvel started to say, but had a web shot cover her mouth and face, forcing her to drop Spider-Man to try and rip the sticky mess off. This only left her open have another series of web shots tie her hands to her face as well.

“See Kamala, she is not tough, you just...need....to....oh that is so not fair!” Spider-Man started to joke, only to stop as Ms. Marvel went giant so to let her increase mass tears the webbing to shreds and leaving tiny bits clinging to her hands and face.

“Let’s see if you can handle a form that let me bring down a Avenger!” Ms. Marvel replied as sent her massive hand down like a fly swatter, forcing Spider-Man to starting jumping around, doing his best to evade but it did not take long for her finally pin the boy down with a solid slap from her hand.

“That’s two spiders down now to aaahhh!” Ms. Marvel started to gloat, but Spider-Man fired a blast of webbing into one of her eyes and in rage lift her hand up and form it into a fist.

As it came down though, Kamala dove forward and raised her shield emitter above her head to create the energy dome, though blow clearly strained the barrier.

“Spider-Man I’m sorry I should have helped you sooner but I was too scared” Kamala apologized, tears flowing her face as like with Natasha, Spider-Man struggled to breath, trying to say something and grabbing her shoulder with one hand.

As Ms. Marvel raised her fist to bring down another blow, Spider called out with all the strength he could muster, “Kamala wake up!”

-

“Spider-Man!” Kamala cried out as she shot up from her keyboard, before realizing a hand was still shoulder and turned her head to see Steve’s in Spider-Man’s place and was looking concerned.

“You okay solider? Knew about your nightmares but only seen a few people who woke up like that before,” Steve asked, having come in to wake the girl for morning training but found her at her desk crying and talking in her sleep.

“She hurt him and I did nothing...I’m a coward...” Kamala whispered holding herself as she started tremble.

“That’s enough of that soldier! I did not see a coward a few days ago saving my hide from A.I.M.!” Steve scolded the girl before gently helping her to her feet and over her bed, confusing the girl since she knew Steve only came into her room this early for their daily lesson.

“But...” Kamala started but her teacher shook his head and had her sit down and took the dream journal she kept on her nightstand under Rachel’s instruction.

“This is more important...and if you wanted to talk about while you write, I’m willing to listen...and I see you started writing other things as well...more proof you’re no coward given your ‘stars’,” Steve told the young girl, though teased her a bit at the end as he glanced back to the computer, seeing a site he knew of and the account that Kamala had been logged into, Slothbaby in the user section on the top right.

Kamala laughed she wiped away that last of the tears from her eyes before saying, “Something I’ve been working on since we got back from the school, between the pink hair and Tony sneaking that stuff into the gear I needed payback and even with my powers I’m not that crazy just yet.”

Steve gave a disapproving look at the word ‘crazy’ but still was encouraging as he got the girl to write and for first time, started listening to the context of these dreams Kamala was having. The still pink haired teen had been hiding them and only Natasha had any idea what was going on with them and only the one she had been in, Steve was glad Rachel’s advice of talking about them was sticking after only the one session, it gave him hope further quickly approaching second one will be of help.

‘It should help she has a new friend in her corner as well,” The Captain thought, glancing at the space on the wall next to the monitor, a clipping of the Daily Bugle taped to the wall, a front page picture of The Avengers, Spider-Man and an unknown pink haired ‘S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent’ Cap laughed when Grady kid had tried to photo bomb the picture but Kamala had tossed the boy into a web Spider-Man had made and still got back into position for Peter’s camera to get the shot.

It was the newest addition to the girl’s hero collection, Kamala finally taking the things out of the trash bags and making the room her own in some way, though clearly some shelves might be in order for the action figures and models but that was an issue for later, right now the Kamala needed him to listen more then she needed his decorating advice.

-

It was around 7am and the two were ones making breakfast for the team, when Kamala heard the voices Hawkeye and Hulk roar out, “KAMALA!” as Tony entered the kitchen to get coffee and gave the girl a raised eyebrow.

“And so project vengeance is ago I see,” Tony replied casually, getting a raised eyebrow from Steve.

“You seemed oddly calm seeing how you are included in that story” Steve commented, wondering if the man was planning something stupid as payback of his own.

“I have dealt with worse from reports trying to smear me, a teenager writing me into ridicules scenarios and humiliating positions while on a road trip with those two is not exactly the worse I have had to deal with...though I do give bonus point for the twisted imagination Stretch,” Tony said with a smirk holding his mug up in a salute before taking a drink.

Kamala was annoyed she only got two of three targets, but decided running was her best option right now, she had her old nullifier back on so fighting even Hawkeye would be a challenge at best let alone the Hulk and had no intention of dying today!

-

Meanwhile a girl in Jersey was finishing put her hijab noticed alert in her email and saw it was an update from a screen name she had watching since her best friend disappeared in some hopes of seeing this.

“Kamala...where are you and why have you not contacted me?” The girl whispered, as she saw the new story alert called ‘Hero Bros Road Trip’ by Slothbaby. Why was her friend hiding but still doing something like this? Nikia vowed when she found the petite girl, she was going to chew her out so badly Kamala would be reeling for a week at the very least!


	6. Friendship Ups and Downs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala faces past friends while restoring new ones, all the while the Avengers start to make use of her status as their bait in an unusual way.
> 
> Peter also starting to see who is the source of many of current personal foes, not knowing some of them might be linked to those after Kamala.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 6, with the start of the Kamala/Peter foundation being laid down. Hope you all enjoy. Please tell me what you think in the comments.
> 
> Kamala's dress - https://poshmark.com/listing/Theory-Black-Wool-Blend-Sleeveless-Shift-Dress-5d41e9e419c157c214226b23
> 
> Kamala's shoes - https://www.jjshouse.com/Women-S-Real-Leather-Flats-Ballroom-Dance-Shoes-053153272-g153272

Chapter 6 – Friendship Ups and Downs 

It had been a week since Kamala posted her story that had been intended as payback for getting her hair turned pink by a prank gone wrong planned by Hulk and Hawkeye for Thor and it had caused bit of rift between the foursome.

Thor and Kamala still got along well enough, the former even coming to rescue when being chased by Hulk and Hawkeye after they found out about the story. Thor had held the Hulk off so Kamala only had to worry about the purpled clad sharpshooter until Pepper came in for her daily meeting with Tony and saw the chaos.

It took little effort for Pepper to restore order and demand answers, only to get ‘she started it’ from Hulk and Hawkeye and to Pepper’s shock Kamala did bow like she was on stage, which only set other two off again. It took another 10 minutes of now Cap and Widow getting involved while Tony laughed like a madman at the scene.

Sadly Kamala did not escape unscathed, since Pepper literally grabbed her by the ear to reprimand the teen in private and demanded to know what she did that caused all this...then faced palmed that it was over a story the girl wrote.

That was about the only reason Kamala had not exploded at Pepper again for the mom mode, the woman had already returned her attention to the supposed ‘adults’ who where chasing after the girl for a silly story...that would the only one Kamala could write for month because Jarvis had been given instruction to monitors Kamala’s Word Programs and author account during her ‘grounding’ so no more of this ridiculousness could happen while all three settled down.

Kamala was mostly unaffected by this though since her main goal was met, her only downside was the monitoring of her account meant replying to the reviewers would be hard. Tony had left her a ‘backdoor’ time at 9pm, to bypass Pepper’s order...why Kamala was still unsure of since he was a target of the story, but she would take it.

Out of the whole mess Steve and Natasha actually neither backed her or Pepper on the matter, Steve was a nice guy so she had to assume he was mostly rolling with it, Natasha...Kamala was still trying to figure that woman out. They got along better now, but the Black Widow seemed to keep a poker face up a lot of the time, only showing things like anger or affection at moments of her choosing. The Avengers in general confused the fangirl as she got to know them over what she had learned from TV or online.

After that morning of chaos, Thor and her were still gaming together but were not talking much to Hulk or Hawkeye, though the other two were not noticing this since Hulk blamed Hawkeye for messing up the prank and Hawkeye blaming Hulk for not doing his own dirty work.

This war they were having made them go out of their way to get under the other’s skin, but what was happening now angered Kamala instead. Hulk had eaten all the food in the kitchen. Not just the fridge, but the shelves as well! The Avengers had won the war to make her eat more often to the point she could actually eat things like her favourite chips again on occasion, but that was hard to do that when a grumpy green trash compactor chows down on them!

What Kamala was not expecting was to see the door to the Hulk’s room open and hear Hawkeye going on about pickles.

‘Good at least someone else is having a bad day!’ Kamala thought bitterly, as she came to the door and saw Hulk’s room. It was nothing like what she been expecting, seeing the middle of the room empty and lacking anything other than small and very old looking TV, the only other future was shelves lining the walls carrying countless crystal figurines? 

Kamala took the Hulk for a collector of something so delicate...and Hawkeye was toying with one! Was the man insane?! To make matter worse, as Hulk tried force the archer to drop the figure back onto the shelf, one of Hawkeye’s explosive arrows fell out and started beeping though the two heroes where oblivious as they continued to argue.

Kamala was still rookie so her spit second decision making still needed fine tuning, but even she knew the arrow going off where it was would probably destroy the shelf or at least some of its fragile content.

Acting fast the Inhuman baseball slide under Hawkeye as he was thrown away by Hulk. Hawkeye landed on his feet and was about to continue his verbal war with Hulk when he saw the petite girl slide to where he had just been and pick up...an arrow getting ready to go off!

Hawkeye was about warn the girl to get away but she raised her arm up to throw the thing like a spear but realized it would hit him so she tried run to the center of the room to get a clear shot of the doorway.

“Just drop...Jarvis emergency unlock authorization Hawkeye!” Clint called out, just as the arrow went off right in Kamala face when she went to throw the arrow a second time and all the girl knew was blackness.

-

Kamala hear yelling outside her door, it sounded like Pepper...what did the Avengers do to make her so mad this early...wait...if Pepper was hear then it was way past training time with Cap, what was going on?

As the teen opened her eyes, she realized this was not her room but the medical room for some reason, until she remembered the explosion. The teen knew she needed a mirror, without her healing factor there was no way she got out that unscathed. Kamala was unsure if she wanted know what she looked like now, but given how stupid her plan had been in hind sight, she probably deserved it...and maybe it would not hard to explain to people in Jersey why she had disappeared for a long time if she had some nasty scars.

As Kamala tried to get up though she found she was strapped down, across the chest, wrists and ankles, making her start to panic.

“Why?!” was the only thing the girl could scream out as she fought the restraints, not sure what she did to be tied down. It was Hawkeye’s stupid arrow, why was he carrying those around when walking around the tower? None of this would have happened if he just kept those stored away between missions.

“Kamala?” voice of Natasha asked at the doorway, only see the Inhuman in question struggling against her bindings much to the spies’ horror.

“Kamala calm down or you’ll hurt yourself!” Natasha ordered, quickly rushing to Kamala’s side as the girl tried to free herself while crying out ‘Why?” over and over.

“Kamala you need to tell what ‘why’ means before I can answer!” Natasha stated firmly, though she had a good idea what was causing the frantic teenager to act this way.

“Why am I tied down? What did I do?” Kamala managed to sob out, more focused on the woman now then the straps that held her in place now that someone could explain why she was being punished.

“Kamala you are known for having nightmares that have you thrash around in your sleep, we could not risk you tearing out the IV. We wanted to make sure you stayed still until you woke up,” Natasha explained calmly, pointing to the girl’s right wrist to show the connection Kamala had to bag of fluid.

“Can...Can I get up then?” Kamala asked, still looking scared but clearly not on verge of having a panic attack. This only improved as Natasha nodded and gently loosened the strap across her chest, but did not get chance to move on the other when Hawkeye and Hulk barged into the room.

“How’s the kid?” Clint managed to get about before Hulk could, Kamala being shocked the two were not at odds like they had been since her prank story.

“She would be better if someone did not carry explosives when not on a mission!” Kamala stated sarcastically, getting a raised eyebrow from Natasha with a smirk on her face that Kamala could not figure out the reason for. It was like Kamala said some kind line tied to an inside joke the former heroine was not in on.

“Oh trust me that will be a policy when in the tower going forward if I have any say in the matter!” Pepper voice called from behind the massive form of the Hulk, unable to get by the green giant.

“Keep Potts out Hulk, Kamala’s been through enough without whatever lecture she has in store for her” Clint ordered his big green teammate, who actually nodded in agreement which only added to Kamala’s shock. What the heck happened while she was out?

As Pepper protested this, Clink came over to Kamala side and did one Kamala’s ankle restraints while Natasha did the same with the one holding her right arm.

“Kid your either bravest or craziest person I ever met, grabbing an explosive arrow just to save a few crystal statues...probably saved my life from the big guy’s temper, but still not exactly the smartest call,” Clint said he freed the girl’s leg, getting a glare from the Pakistani.

“I’m seeing a therapist, I think that answers that question,” Kamala replied as she debated about using her freed foot to kick the archer in the face, but the flick to her forehead from Natasha distracted the teen from deciding if it would have been worth it.

“Another wise crack like that and I’ll make you wish Potts was in here instead of me,” The Black Widow warned, not letting the girl go down that path.

Clint just laughed at Kamala comment as he got the second ankle free, while Natasha removed the IV, all the while Kamala noted Pepper still trying to force her way past Hulk, but the he just kept his back turned to the woman and stood like an immoveable object in the doorway.

“So...you guys are not fighting anymore?” Kamala asked as she rubbed her forehead from the flick, getting a laugh from the three Avengers.

“Let’s just say while you were out cold from that accident, Hulk and I had things...put in perspective when an intergalactic fight promoter who tried blow up the planet...you know the usual Wednesday night in New York,” Clint replied casually, making Kamala go slacked jawed.

“And I missed it? How long was I out? As much as I probably needed the sleep, kind of like being able to at least run from anything trying to kill me as long I got this leash strapped to my arm!” Kamala grumbled as the last restraint was removed and started looking around for mirror to check how ugly she had gotten.

“Actually that all happened last night, Hawkeye probably saved your life by using the emergency deactivation on the nullifier just as the explosion happened so your healing factor could take the brunt of it damage away. It’s why we have you on an IV, had liquid calories being pumped into you to replace what your healing was burning through,” Natasha explained, having to actively hold back her laughter at the look Kamala was giving her once she knew there was a way to turn the device off in the crisis.

Many could guess the teen was wondering, where was that with Deadpool? Of course Natasha had no intention of letting the girl have her powers unless she was certain she felt unable to defeat the crazy mercenary. Black Widow felt most of the danger the girl had been in was from constantly brining attention to herself over hiding or running away.

Kamala was about voice her feeling on the matter, when heard Steve tell the Hulk to let them through and make the girl go pale and look to the Clint and ask, “Does this qualify, because not sure if I can survive the pretend Ammi!”

“Excuse me? I’m not trying to replace your mother, but these people clearly don’t think recklessness should be punished!” Pepper growled out in annoyance as she finally got past Hulk, while Steve and Tony flanked the fuming woman.

“Pepper leave Stretch be, you frankly are pretty much playing mom too much as it. I pay you to keep me inline, not to boss the team or the kid around...besides probably saved us a ton in building damage, only lost one window when Hulk tackled Hawkeye out it while we were busy running tests on Kamala,” Tony casually scolded his assistant, knowing she meant well but knew Kamala was going to snap again if the redhead did not give the kid room to breathe.

“Then what do you plan on doing about it Tony? She could have died!” Pepper demanded, not believe these people saw nothing wrong with the girl being borderline suicidal with that stunt.

“You want us to punish her for doing something we do on a daily bases? The kid is part of the superhero club, doing something stupid is part of the job, even if she is ‘benched’” Tony replied casually, while he took a phone out of his pocket and tossed it to Kamala.

“Finally got you a new one after that one we loaned you for the mission got fried, you might want to call Spider-Man and tell him you are on the way to Jersey Central Hospital. We got him scoping the place out in case your ‘friends’ from that night are also watching the place as well, you got an hour before we leave,” Tony told Kamala who was clearly confused at this.

“Um did my healing not finish the job?” The teen asked, thinking maybe she did need a mirror still if the Avengers where taking her to a hospital. But why Jersey when New York had plenty?

“Oh your good to go from all my tests say, we are going because certain ‘super snot’ creator has woken up. Your brother is still in a coma, but thought you might want to check on your friend,” Tony told the girl with a smirk at the sight of Kamala going wide eyed and needing to dive out of the way as the teen took off liked greased lighting.

Pepper had tried say something as Kamala took off, but was stopped by Steve who said, “I’ll talk to her about it, but you need to back off Pepper...you where pushing it with the grounding since that was just a harmless bit of teasing...which was brought on by the ‘victims’”

Hulk and Clint just rolled their eyes at Steve’s comment but said nothing, they already where on Pepper’s hit list so provoking Cap was a bad idea.

“I don’t believe you people!” Pepper cried out in exasperation, storming off while Natasha looked to Steve and Tony who shook their heads.

“Give her one more chance, Pepper means well by trying give Kamala boundaries but she needs to find that balance she mentioned when Kamala snapped the first time...I blame it on Thor, Hulk and Clint,” Tony responded to the unasked question, sounding serious at first but then got more light hearted at the last part so got glared it by the four other Avengers.

-

When Kamala got her room her room she found a shampoo bottle on her bed with a note from Hawkeye and Hulk saying ‘Truce offering: Closest match to your natural colour’ making Kamala breath a sign of relief and hoped this stuff was strong enough to counter the neon pink mess that was her head.

Kamala scrubbed her hair three times heavily, wanting to do more but was pushing her 1 hour limit but was glad she burnet again for the most part, a few minor bits of pink still showing but another shower later should hopefully finish the job, right now she needed to get changed.

Kamala put on a pair of blue jeans and her Captain America style long sleeve shirt, wanting give the grey sweat pants and black t-shirt with lightning bolt a rest. She was unsure if ‘Ms. Marvel’ should be seen in public with her symbol on her chest when being ‘stripped’ of her hero status by the Avengers.

‘Hold on Bruno, I’m coming!’ Kamala thought, as she made her way to quinjet hanger, seeing Cap, Widow and Hawkeye waiting for her.

“Was that enough for a truce? Kind of started missing you and Thor the last little while...could not get much done with me and the big guy at odds and you two upset with both of us,” Hawkeye asked casually, while Kamala still gave the archer a mild glare.

“What’s Thor’s apology?” The teen asked, which made Hawkeye start to sweat under the judgmental stare.

“Kind of still working on that...Hulk said leave it to him...which means the two are probably having a good fight somewhere. You know Thor, he loves a good fight.” This was all Kamala needed to hear to burst out laughing and smile at Hawkeye.

“Well if Thor is satisfied with whatever Hulk has planned, then we’re cool...please leave shampoo off the prank list in the future!” Kamala exclaimed in mock exasperation, both glad the little war they were having was finally over.

“Thank God...four of the most stubborn people I have met, though the teenager at least has the excuse of being silly when holding a grudge given how looking into a mirror would only remind her of what happened!” Black Widow grumbled as she prepped the jet for flight.

“And yet, you are the reason the four of them started becoming a group if I recall correctly,” Captain America commented from the co pilot seat, getting glare from the Russian who did not like being reminded she had accidently ‘completed’ the squad of four gamers. At least before the three men did other things, but ever since Kamala gave them a full team, Warframe had occupied the living room far more often. It was maddening as the argued ‘strategy’ and modding builds!

Meanwhile Kamala was finally turning on the phone Tony gave her on and found in the contacts the name Spider-Man as the only one she had. Kamala had to wonder why give her phone when this was the only person she would need it for? She was not going to question the gift though, it was nice having one again since her old was taken by her parents when she had found her room empty of hero merchandise and Shocker’s was evidence for the Inhuman case.

As Kamala phoned the number, it only rang once before the familiar voice of her friend answer, “Friendly neighborhood hospital watch speaking, how’s it going Bubblegum?”

Kamala’s eyebrow twitched at the nickname and she stated through gritted teeth, “Call me bubblegum again and no amount of spider sense will save you from me!”

Kamala had not realized saying that aloud was bad idea until she heard all three Avengers actually retrain their laughter, clearly getting the reference to both her powers and hair. Clearly killing Peter would not be enough to hide the humiliation...and the murder of three veteran heroes would not an option.

“Hey I been watching this place all day, I got bored and had time to think of a witty phone answering method...plus needed to get my mind off of hunting for date for the fall formal,” Spider-Man answered, clearly not scared just yet of the normally powerful Inhuman.

Kamala jumped at the change of topic, despite her three protectors still snickering at her new nickname, hoping she could find something to mock her fellow teenager in some way.

“All of your friend that are girls have a date already or you suffering from the ditch effect and now no one will talk to you?” Kamala asked in hopes of phishing for info would find her opening.

“The latter, the Lizard photos I sold the Bugle put me in a tough spot with one of my few friends, she is not speaking with me...does not help my fight with a new villain called Sandman made me need to ditch another friend when he needed me so can’t ask him to help hopefully being my go between...so far my only options are just stay home or ask this Mary Jane Watson my aunt May is trying to get me talk to,” the still active teen hero replied, sounding like he shuddered at the mentioning of the Mary Jane girl.

Kamala thinking she had the start of her revenge, switch to the phone to speaker and prepared for operation ‘Make Peter Pay!’

“What’s wrong with her, too geeky to be seen with?” Kamala asked, keeping her voice normal but evil smirking growing and getting raised eyebrow from Hawkeye as he was the only one in the back with her.

“My Aunt’s exact words are, ‘she has a wonderful personality’...” the web head replied, making both Kamala and Hawkeye shudder, while the two in the cockpit turned their heads in confusion at why the phone was now on speaker.

“Okay...that will not end well...though why not go with the stay home option? Given my personal track record with keeping up with personal stuff and being a hero, easier to cancel on yourself then a date?” Kamala asked, seeing her window for payback closing but sounds like Peter needed help right now not humiliation...that could come later!

“Can’t made a stupid bet with a guy named Flash Thompson...have to come with a date or I’m stuck dressing as a cheerleader for Halloween...not my smartest move but I was so confident I could get a girl from the Bugle to come but so far no dice. So unless you are somehow allowed out for a night, doubt I’m saved from the fate of being stuck in a really short skirt in a few weeks,” Spider-Man explained, at first Kamala thinking Peter had walked into her trap of getting embarrassed in the eyes of some the most famous heroes, when Cap sealed her fate instead.

“Perfect timing solider if you don’t mind us using it to our advantage as well, we need to start making use of our ‘bait’ if we are going to lure in those we are after,” Steve called over his shoulder, while Black Widow fired a grappling line from her gauntlet to snatch the phone out Kamala’s hand.

“Wait what!?” Kamala managed get out as she got out of her seat, but was stopped by Hawkeye stopped her and told her it was not good idea to go scrambling for the phone when the people near it where in the driver seats.

Meanwhile Cap had switched off speaker and telling Peter he would go over the idea with Tony and get back to the boy, though once again repeated it a win win for everyone so the idea seemed likely, much to Kamala’s horror. She had not been allowed to date, so while she was unfamiliar with the rules, but sure was bloody sure the girl was supposed to decide if it was a yes or no!

As Captain America hung up the phone, Kamala finally managed to get her voice to work and cried out terror, “What is going on? How does this have anything with me being bait?”

“Did you think your attackers would make a move on the tower as a main strategy? Eventually we needed to make it look like we where lowering our guard send you on controlled outings where you seemed on your own but are actually being watched by us. We are basically ‘dangling the bait’,” Black Widow explained, but she clearly was enjoying Kamala’s discomfort for some reason.

“Pepper won’t like this,” Hawkeye pointed out, giving Kamala hope! There was no way wannabe Mama Pepper would want the ‘reckless girl’ going out having tgo ‘fun’ after nearly getting kill!

‘For once Cinderella will not be going to the ball!’ Kamala thought happily, kind of surprised for once she did not want to go to a party, but seeing how the idea of her first allowed one was under these circumstances it was not exactly something Kamala felt she deserved.

“Doesn’t matter, this is Avengers business and her role is to help Tony with Stark Industry matters, we just allow her input on things that concern the tower because it does affect her job...besides it seems we found our punishment for a certain reckless teenager,” Cap said as he noted Kamala’s growing panic.

“How is going to a dance a punishment?” Kamala demanded, trying to figure a way out of this mess!

“You are not exactly jumping for joy back there...plus I can think Natasha taking you dress shopping will be interesting...just don’t put her in something too uncomfortable Nat,” the captain explained to both the terrified teenager and to the woman who had made the art into looking good into a weapon when on an assignment.

“What is wrong with you people?!” Kamala cried out, mimics Pepper reaction from earlier to Avengers antics and only got her laughed at again by the trio. Peter was a dead man!

-

The quinjet let Kamala off on roof top near the hospital, one close enough Hawkeye could have good view and covering fire in the event of an emergency. It was also the place Spider-Man had been camped, so the second he realized the brunette was his ‘savior’ he scooped her up in a hug saying ‘thank you’ over and over in rapid succession and only made Kamala humiliation grow.

‘And now I really can’t say no...it would be like kicking a puppy!’ The petite girl thought bitterly, but put on a smile for her friend.

“No...problem...just please tell me your not one of the ‘big men’ on campus so I can just blend in. I would kind of like to go as me if possible if I’m doing this,” Kamala managed to get out nervously, she had not expected her newest friend be this happy at her being his ‘date’...he must have really not wanted to be in the cheerleader outfit.

“Opposite actually, ‘biggest nerd’ is actually more my speed, should seen me before I got that spider bite and still needed the glasses,” Spider-Man answered, almost laughing as he watched Kamala’s head drop and then look to the Avengers and ask if they had another holodisguise they could loan her.

“I think a bunch of high school students will be paying less attention to the news then most plus you would be surprised what a little makeup can do,” Black Widow replied with a smirk, making Kamala go pale. Kamala has worn makeup before, but she had feeling this was going to be a whole different experience given this woman was master of disguise.

“You’re enjoying this way too much...what happened cold woman I met a few weeks ago? You know the one who slapped me so hard I was seeing stars and K.O. Pepper with just a backhand!” Kamala exclaimed, which only made Widow smile evilly.

“Oh you have no idea how much fun I’m having, think of this as payback for making me and Cap need to keep the Hulk of all people check from smashing you for that silly story.” Natasha shot back, though her smile changed to a look of confusion when Spider-Man stepped between Kamala and herself like he was protecting the petite girl.

“You...slapped...her...” The spider themed hero asked slowly, raising his web shooters into firing position and causing older hero to raise her eyebrow at the attempt to intimidate her. The only reason the spider VS spider showdown ended without one of them being on the ground was Captain America cleared his throat to get everyone’s attentions.

“I believe we need a report on any suspicious activity down there you might have seen...then we need you to be her shadow on the outside of the building, within a reasonable distance since I’m certain Kamala wants some privacy,” Captain America instructed, probably saving the young man from needing the hospital, the boy had skills but fighting the Black Widow at his current skill level...it would at least be quick fight if nothing else.

Spider-Man slowly looked back and forth between the two adult heroes, clearly deciding to get back the task at hand but shook his finger at the redheaded Russian as if promising this was not the last of this topic, though all the Black Widow did was roll her eyes.

“Did not see anything unusual over the last few hours, but given how the only physical decapitation we have to go on is a woman with grey-white skin, I don’t want to say we are in the clear,” Spider-Man answered, clearly not happy with his work.

“Not much else we can ask for soldier, we knew going in this would be hard and clearly who ever we are after are not fools or we would have had more to go on before we had what little Ms. Marvel provided,” The Captain answered, giving the boy a pat on the shoulder and ushered him off to go to the building for outer watch duty.

Kamala breathed a sigh of relief that bit of drama had been avoided, she had no clue what to do if her friend actually started a fight with Black Widow, even with both emitters Kamala would rather run than fight Natasha...even with her powers Kamala might still run, so how did Peter think he could win? Well okay, Kamala had a few first hand experiences with Natasha’s skill on the low end, so the former heroine knew better then to fight the super spy.

As Black Widow went cloaked, Kamala went down the fire escape while Cap and Hawkeye kept watch from the nearby roof. Kamala would look alone, but would easily have protection from the hidden spy at close range, a wall crawler in the mid range and Cap could rush in if needed, while Hawkeye had the option to fight from position that suited him best or charge in with Captain America should the extra manpower was needed.

Even with only her mask remaining from her old hero guise; it was easy for those in Jersey to recognize the former hero, some backing away at her approach towards the hospital entrance. Reactions that hurt Kamala, but not that she could blame people wanting to play it safe.

The hospital staff where a little better though more due to getting prior warning from Tony that Ms. Marvel wanted to visit one of the boy hurt defending the two elder Khans, the people she had failed to save.

“He is in room 107 down that way, please don’t remain too long, Mr. Carrelli has only recently regained conscious so he needs his rest,” The receptionist explained, giving Kamala weary look, which made the teen meekly nod and head off for the room, not noticing Natasha drop the cloak long enough to glare at the woman before returning to her invisible state.

As Kamala reached the door, she looked into see a very depressed and his left arm heavily bandaged. She knocked to hopefully avoid startling Bruno too much, all he did thought was turn to the doorway with a look of defeat and a hint of anger in his eyes.

“What do you want Ms. Marvel? Thought you would be off with your new friends,” Bruno stated tiredly, clearly wanting more strength then he could muster but was still too weak from waking from his coma plus the injuries.

Kamala flinched at both her friend’s tone and expression, feeling this was worse than when he was mad her back in the sewers. It made sense though, she was responsible for the attack on her family and him.

Kamala gently closed the door while saying, “It’s nothing like that Bruno, it’s pretty much a weird witness protection and house arrest.”

“Then who was that girl with the Avengers and Spider-Man? It’s odd she was called ‘Classified’ and I notice the hints of pink in your hair. I maybe bed ridden but I can get the news from the last little bit and clearly you have been busy!” Bruno shot back coldly, the accusation cutting Kamala like a knife.

“They...they needed someone who could get into the school unnoticed, I was a last minute idea to find out what was going on I didn’t even have my powers until I got hit with an EMP grenade, the only reason I was doing any ‘hero work’ was because Spider-Man and I got caught snooping around confirming what was going on so the Avengers had grounds to move in!” Kamala tried to explain but Clearly Bruno was not having it.

“An given his build and height when he was next to you in that picture, Spider-Man either really short or is close to us in age, so why was someone under house arrest needed if there was another teenager they could go to?!” Bruno stated accusingly, clearing he thought the fallen hero was still out and about like she had been after running away from home.

“He was not even a thought until I was already there! I had been scouting place out for three straight days by the time Spidey even showed up and I was not even told he was coming!” Kamala countered, though her voice getting shaky as her friend’s words started to hurt. She had come here hoping maybe make up for what she had done in the sewer and for not being there when he was attacked, but so far it felt more like he was driving her away.

“Don’t you dare start crying Marvel! I’m the one whose hand will never fully cover from all this superhero stuff you dragged me into! You know what the doctors told me? I have permanent nerve damage thanks to the grey skinned girl with lighting powers when she hit my arm directly while they kidnapped the Khans! Get out and don’t come back...if ever you find Kamala, tell her I might be willing to see her but you...never again!” Bruno started yelling, clearing using as much strength as his body could muster, causing Kamala to gasp at both the description of the skin color of one his attackers and the news of Bruno’s hand. Such an injury would make things difficult for the inventor and chemist with only one fully functioning hand.

To make matters worse, he made it clear he was rejecting Ms. Marvel, something both knew the normal Kamala saw as a part of herself. She was being given a choice between being a hero or being his friend, she could not have both.

Kamala did not have the strength to say Ms. Marvel was gone, mainly due to the fact Kamala was trying to regain that part of her. Telling Bruno that was just as bad saying she they where one and the same. So she did the only thing she was good at anymore, run.

As she tore the door open and ran down the hall, Black Widow dropped the cloak in view of the doorway and glare at Bruno while speaking into a communicator, “Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel is heading to the exit, get her back to Hawkeye and Captain America when you see her, I need to speak to Mr. Carrelli...also let her know we will take care of that ‘special trip’ in the morning.”

With that she started heading into room and shutting the door behind her, while Bruno’s eyes widened in fear.

“So Mr. Carrelli...tell me everything that you remember about that night in detail...don’t worry I’ll make sure you recall EVERYTHING!” Black Widow promised, not intending to hurt the boy, she was a superhero after all. But that did not mean she could risk critical information so she would just need to be ‘careful’ with the boy.

-

Kamala was halfway to the main entry/exit of the hospital when she accidently bumped into someone who said “Please watch wh...Kamala?”

Kamala looked back to see Nikia standing there and was looking shock confused at what she was seeing. Both girls stunned at seeing each other, though Nikia was more so. For her, she was seeing triple, the physical girl wearing a blue domino mask before her and two ghost images. One being of Kamala because she knew superhero fangirl had the same shirt, but other saw Jersey’s former superhero in her burkini like costume.

“Y-you have me confused with someone else, I need to go!” Kamala replied quickly once her shock wore off and tried head for exit again, but felt her arm get grabbed and dragged towards an empty room.

Before Kamala could do anything to break free, she felt herself get tossed towards the bed, while the door was closed behind them. The former super teen turned to see what she expected, Nikia blocking the only exit unless Kamala could open the window fast enough and jump out. The latter option probably not wise even on the first floor due to her current status in Jersey, it would probably just cause an unneeded commotion so Kamala needed to very sure she needed to resort to such extremes.

“Ms I really need to....” Kamala started to say, but stopped when Nikia shot across the room and got right in her face.

“Don’t you dare lie to me this time Kamala...is this why you have been missing? You had us all worried after you ran away and now I find you like this! What are you thinking?” Nikia demanded, grabbing her best friend by the shoulders and digging her fingers in tight to her shoulders which caused Kamala to flinch in pain.

“Nikia please...I got to go....people are waiting for me outside and I need to stay with them until I can sort this mess out,” Kamala explained weakly, not daring to meet the other girl’s gaze.

“This is not a time to be a fangirl Kamala! You need to come home and get help dealing with your loss! This Ms. Marvel business can’t be that important!” Nikia nearly shouted, only putting the effort of controlling her volume to avoid having the whole hospital know who Ms. Marvel was. All she really did was spark of fire in her friend.

“Ms. Marvel was who the people that killed them wanted! I just don’t l know why! Do they know who I am or was it because they saw me with them before their ‘distraction’ attacked the bank? For all we know you just painted a target on your back by speaking with me and I’m powerless to help you if that happens now!” Kamala shouted, before breaking free of Nikia’s grasp and pointing to the nullifier on her left arm.

“What...what is that thing?” Nikia asked, not noticing it before, even though it had the Ms. Marvel colors on it, Kamala’s distain for the armband made it clear it was not there as an accessory.

“It blocks my powers, I’m not some Avenger in training or doing any ‘Ms. Marvel businesses’ Nikia...I’m under watch to make sure I’m not going to be a danger to innocent people and as a witnesses to something I can’t say more on. I’ve lost everything...all I have left is hopefully fixing things so I can come back Jersey in any form...I can only hope I’m whole and not just half a person!” Kamala screamed, before pushing past her friend who was too stunned to move this time.

Kamala finally managed get out of the hospital and much to her relief to see Spider-Man waiting for, ignoring the people staring at him while he gave her a friendly wave.

“Need a lift? Your shadow said you got to go on a ‘special trip’ in the morning by the way...whatever that means,” Spider-Man asked, surprised to find his new friends crying, but focused on being cheerful until they where away, then ask for who he had hang upside down from the empire state building.

“K-Ms. Marvel wait!” a voice called out from in the hospital, which made Kamala rush over to Spider-Man and say, “Go! Go now!”

The still active teen hero quickly did as he was asked and had them in the air as Nikia reached the doorway, calling out for Ms. Marvel to come back, all the while Kamala cried into Spider-Man’s shoulder. Facing both her best friends at once was hard, what was harder was one made it clear which part he wanted deal with and other could just stay gone.

Getting back to the rooftop Hawkeye and Captain America looked worried at the sight of Kamala crying, but given they heard Black Widow sounding deadly serious when calling for Spider-Man wait to pick her up, it made it clear the Russian was dealing with the matter.

Half an hour later, Black Widow finally returned, saying she got more info on the three attackers, little details on the two males due to ski masks, but the grey skinned woman had lightning for hair that must have made it impossible to wear one.

‘So she is the one I want,’ Kamala thought darkly, now knowing who killed her parents, plus hurt Bruno and Aamir. Her opponent’s powers where perfect to counter her own, but Kamala was getting a lot of practice with fighting without them. The electric woman would pay!

Black Widow noticed this, but Cap stopped her before she could say anything and whispered, “We do our job right and Kamala won’t even be in a mile of her, no point lecturing her until after this electric based woman is dealt with.”

-

Back at the tower, Spider-Man was thanking Kamala for doing him the huge favor of being his ‘date’ and told her he would call later and they could talk, assuming she might want to get what happened at the hospital off her chest. This was something Kamala was very grateful for, someone who could relate to the teen superhero stuff just felt different then talking about to the Avengers.

“What is this I hear about you going on date?” Pepper asked as she looked at the teenager suspiciously.

“It’s not a date! I’m being put to work luring out a certain people while helping out an asset to the team...all against my will I might add!” Kamala stated, knowing Pepper was still probably looking for a way to get her for the exploding arrow.

“Oh please, I bet you’re secretly giddy with joy at getting out of here for a night!” Tony jumped in, having heard the plan from Cap while he waited for both Kamala and Natasha to come back from the hospital. Tony was less thrilled that Natasha had ‘interrogated’ the Bruno kid, but if the boy had tore into Kamala like that he could at least understand why Natasha give the boy a bit of scare. Not condone it, but he understood.

“Oh come on! If they were still around they would be....” Kamala started to say, until she realized who she was about bring up and went silent, all teasing coming to an abrupt halt as well.

“I’m going to my room...” Kamala replied with zero life in her tone, wandering off in an almost mindless state.

Several minutes later, Kamala sitting on her bed still in emotionless state only to semi waking from it when a knock was heard at the door and she gave a weak, “Yes?”

As the door opened to reveal Clint was the one to knock, his expression worried but friendly.

“You want to get your mind off it once the big lugs get back or you need some alone time?” The archer asked, clearly referring to the foursome’s past time making the star chart quake in fear on whatever farm target they had in mind in Warframe.

Kamala could barely force a weak smile and say, “Pretty sure you guys would be carrying me for most of the game.”

Clint just smirked and replied with as much arrogance he could muster, “And that is different from other times how?”

Kamala’s eyes widened at this impaction and quickly threw her pillow at Clint, but he ducked it with ease.

“Forget waiting for them! I’ll be reviving your butt for the millionth time by the time they finish their spar or whatever they call it! I call first turn on the TV!” Kamala shouted, her gamer pride clearly pushing back her dark thoughts for at least the moment, quickly getting to her feet and chasing the sharpshooter back the front room.

-

The next morning Natasha and Kamala where looking at dresses and the super spy could tell styles normal to teenagers Kamala’s age seemed uncomfortable to her. Clearly Kamala was raised to wear more modest styles, but did not want to go in ‘overdressed’ since she did say she wanted blend in.

“I promise nothing too extreme kiddo, just follow my lead on this one” Natasha suggested, taking look at the racks and took out simple black sleeveless style dress that stopped just above the knees. Natasha then got some long back gloves that went to the elbow and a pair of black leather flats for ballroom dancing, so would make it easy for Kamala not need to adapted to high heels but still not stand out.

“Um if you’re sure...” Kamala said as she looked at the choices, guessing Natasha knew what she was talking about, while taking them to trying on while Natasha just gave the teenager a reassuring smile as she went into the changing room.

Kamala came out feeling a bit awkward feeling in the dress and shoes, the form fitting nature of the dress a bit weird to her but not dramatically compared to say her burkini style costume. The main issue she was having with was the flats, a whole new experience for the teen.

“If these are meant for dancing I hate to see how anyone even walks in the normal style heels!” Kamala grumbled while Natasha laughed.

“Don’t worry, the dance is tomorrow so just do some casual walks when we get back ‘home’ just to get used to them. Once your familiar with them moving around will be easy,” Natasha assured the teen, who as they went to pay for the items did not know Peter was at whole different kind of dance...a battle with Rhino and discovering the source of his wave after wave of new super villains!

-

“Going to be feeling all this in the morning...good news is I now know who the Big Man is, down side is he probably wrecked a lot of my remaining good rep with the boys and girls in blue!” Spider-Man grumbled as he swung to a nearby roof top far enough from L. Thompson Lincoln/Tombstone/The Big Man’s personal tower, the HQ for his criminal operations in New York.

As the young hero stopped to catching his breath though, his spider sense kicked and he back flipped over an arrow that exploded into a net as it flew past.

“Oh come on! First Rhino, then The Big Man now freaking Avengers! I’m way past my butt getting kicked quota for the day!” Spidey grumbled looking behind him to see Hawkeye and Hulk in a hover car and Iron Man hovering next to them.

“Just getting your attention PJs, seeing how we intercepted police chatter about you going after a civilian a little while ago. Given what we have seen of your work, that is not you so what is up?” Iron Man asked, weapons not active yet but Hawkeye had notched another arrow and Hulk looked ready to jump from the hover car.

“The cops wouldn’t listen, why would you?” Spider-Man countered, web shooters in firing position even though he knew he was seriously outgunned. He also knew if Black Widow knew his cell number, his home was also probably known so overall even if he did escape he was pretty much done.

“Try us kid, we are Avengers we have probably seen way weirder stuff!” Hawkeye stated, keeping a lock on the young kid who Kamala’s only same friend right now. He really did not want to bring the boy in, but if he was going bad, the Avengers needed to step in since they vouched for him during the Bilderberg Academy operation.

“Even if I said The Big Man who runs the New York’s biggest crime organization was L. Thompson Lincoln? The guy who created Sandman and Rhino to distract me and when I confronted him to bring it to an end, tried bribe me to turn a blind eye whenever he asked! I only got the cops called on me when I said no!” Spider-Man stated firmly, the anger at the offer and the possible ruining of his standing with both the law and Avengers growing with every word.

“Got proof kid, who or what is your source?” Iron Man asked, still not taking any action to look like he was going attack. That was the role of Hawkeye and Hulk, Tony wanted to be the one who seemed the least aggressive.

“Only what I got from Rhino during the steam bath I subjected him to...he was so out of it he spilled the beans. Think he must have heard of it by accident given he was just a henchman before going super villain,” Spider-Man answered, lowering his web shooters, knowing that if they did not believe him that the fight would be over before it began anyway.

There was a long silence before Hawkeye finally said, "4 out of 10 on the weird scale, maybe less."

Spider-Man thought this meant he was about to get taken down but was shocked when saw Iron Man spoke up next, "You guys head back to the tower while I talk with PJs, don't mention any of this to Stretch unless she asks. Don't want to make her worry about her friend if we don't have to."

"And if she somehow does?" Hulk asked gruffly, a bit disappointed he did not get to do anything, even though he did not want to hurt the kid since he was Kamala's friend and did help save him from A.I.M.

"Tell her I gave him a stern talking to and sent him to his room!" Iron Man joked, before landing on the roof and heading over to the slightly more relaxed teen. The boy clearly knew he was not out of the woods but he was at least aware this was not going to be a hero on hero smack down.

As the two left, Iron Man came over to Spider-Man and said, "Okay lets go over this from the beginning, I can already say we can't back you publically without proof but let's at least hear what you got. I want whole story so we know what we are dealing with."

-

The next evening Kamala was dressed and ready for her 'date' with Peter, still unaware of what had happened the previous day. All she knew was two of the 'Squad' had gone out to check on something with Iron Man and it turned out to be a false alarm.

All they had come back to find was very humiliated Kamala learning to dance in the flats Natasha had selected for her, they were comfortable and she was getting the hang of them, but both Steve and Natasha still subjected her to a couple of hours of practice, even if it was too help her not feel like a fool at the fall formal.

The two had opted to not make fun of her until this evening since they could tell she was already flustered. Tonight they though she was just nerves and was much more fun to tease.

"They grow up so fast Hulk, it felt like just yesterday we where brining her home and now she is off on her first date!" Hawkeye faked cried, while Hulk snickered at Kamala's quickly reddening face.

"I swear if not for the stupid belt under this thing I would be going so giant not even Hulk would be able to stop me and I would be so smacking you both around!" Kamala shouted at them, hating how Tony actually fixed the nullifier belt she used during her team-up with Spider-Man. If she still had the armband she could at least smash Hawkeye in the face with it.

Hulk snorted at this declaration, not believing the rookie could pull off. Maybe in a few years she could get that big but no way right now if her powers came back. He would still win either way.

"No fighting when your dressed like that Stretch, you'll wreck your makeup!" Tony mock scolded, coming out in a tuxedo, while Pepper was in a black evening gown; both having their own party to attend to. Though in the case of Tony, it was keep a closer eye on a certain Mr. Lincoln.

He trusted Peter's word, but like Tony had said, without proof then the Avengers could not act. So Tony decided the normally avoided gatherings the now known crime lord held for New York's elite where high on Tony Stark's priority list.

Tony had no doubt this could tip off 'The Big Man' that bigger guns then Spider-Man had their eyes on him, but that was the current end goal. Have Mr. Lincoln look over his shoulder until that one moment he slips up and the A-Bomb gets dropped right on top of him. With any luck there will be a certain young Marvel at their side when it happens.

-

An hour later Kamala in the limo Tony had paid for to take her to Peter's and to the dance, meeting his Aunt May. She had been surprised her nephew knew someone besides Gwen Stacy to ask as a date, so obviously she asked how the two met.

Kamala reply was that they had met 'at work' though this meant May thought Kamala was also employed the Bugle but the young girl covered her tracks by saying she 'stories' online on various sites rather than work for a company directly, she and Peter ran into each other while looking into a story since both specialized in superpower area of things.

May did look unhappy two young people where doing something so risky but she could not argue Peter had been looking after himself so far, so could not argue a second teenager doing the same.

Before May could pry further, Peter suggested they should be going. He knew things like Kamala's family would come up if the conversation had kept going.

"That was a smooth move with reporting thing, though risky if she ever asks to see your work" Peter commented as the two got into their ride. At first he thought they were alone Black Widow decloaked across from them.

“Yes Kamala, tell him where your ‘stories’ are!” the super spy declared, still a little annoyed at what she had to do to stop the Hulk from smashing the petite Inhuman.

“I never said I did news stories, she just assumed I meant that instead of fanfiction or special forum posts!” Kamala said a bit smugly, thinking herself clever at that bit of wordplay.

Peter went slack jawed and pretty much meant he was going to need to be very careful when Aunt May questioned him on how he knew Kamala. So far the woman had not inquired too much into who this new girl in his life was, but Peter suspected that would change now that his Aunt had actually met her.

“Don’t get cocky kid, that 6 out of 10 at best, your only advantage was you where dealing with a rather trusting woman. If Mrs. Parker was the digging type you would have been grilled a lot sooner...Peter might have even been caught by now if she was!” Widow lectured the benched rookie, not wanting to risk her getting a big head.

Before Kamala could counter, she heard a ping come from Peter’s phone and tensed, certain ideas coming to mind that could be the source. She wondered if this was what Bruno felt like at the idea of her needing to go rushing off to be Ms. Marvel.

“Forgot I had that going...collect and start next forma!” Peter said, making Black Widow now go tense while Kamala perked up.

“PC or console?” The petite girl asked, making Peter raise an eyebrow at the question and saying PC and was MR18. This made Black Widow start to go pale...she did not need this tonight!

“Darn it only MR10 as of yesterday and that is with Hawkeye, Thor and Hulk speeding things along with all their extra stuff!” Kamala grumbled while getting a ‘there there’ pat from her fellow teen superhero. Meanwhile Black Widow turned on her cloak again, she knew it wouldn’t stop the conversation but it was about the only escape she would get from being trapped in a small space with two Warframe players!

Meanwhile Hawkeye was texting Kamala to get Peter’s screen name so Thor and Hulk would have friend invites waiting for him later. It was also official they were starting a Clan...now to just find three more people so they had two full squads!

-

Arriving at the dance was huge relief for Black Widow but for Peter and Kamala it was the beginning of little bit of fun they had planned for Flash Thompson. If Kamala could not get revenge on Peter for the ‘Bubblegum’ nickname just yet, she could at least get the source of this little predicament she was in. After all Peter would not have needed a date if not for the stupid bet!

The pair approached the ‘in crowd’ which included Peter’s friend Harry, who all seemed stunned Peter both cleaned up well and actually could talk to a girl besides Gwen. Flash was quick recover and moved to embarrass ‘Puny Parker’ by mentioning said bet and that he bragged about a 20 year old he was brining instead.

“Well Parker looks like you won the bet! She might not be the 20 year old you wanted but at least she is non fictional!” Flash playfully mocked, thinking Peter would have hidden both these facts, but was shocked when all this did was have Kamala lean her head on Peter shoulder like she did at the school run by A.I.M. only this time Peter was aware it was going to happen before hand.

“Oh you mean the woman who introduced us? She thought Pete deserved more substance and less flash, so asked me to take her place as his date. Enjoy wearing that skirt!” Kamala replied, before giving Peter a gentle tug towards the dance floor while leaving the ‘in crowd’ in shock.

Meanwhile Gwen felt dejected at seeing her friend who said he was not coming, yet did so with another girl, while Eddie Brock who was like an older brother to Peter until recently grow mad that he was hurting his friends again!

-

Meanwhile Tony and Pepper were mingling at the party hosted by the very man Tony was here to see, the leader of the Avengers shook hands with one of New York’s biggest criminals like there was nothing to worry about.

“Mr. Stark, it’s good to see you attend my charity event. To have a man of your standing attend in a great honour,” Mr. Lincoln greeted, though internally knew to be on guard. Tony Stark rarely attended his events, to do now so shortly after a certain young rookie who had approached him about being The Big Man was a rather...convenient.

“Think nothing of it Mr. Lincoln, I thought it was the least I could do after a young gun we asked for help recently caused you so much trouble. Need to show the public where the Avengers stand on such actions. I assure you he will be set straight once we can pin the slippery little spider down!” Tony greeted in return, making his message clear only to those who could knew both sides, to anyone else it was like Tony not condoning reckless behavior.

“No need to bother, I’m sure the young man had probably heard some silly rumor about me being some corrupt ‘villain’ and jumped gun. He has been rather busy with rather notable foes lately, Spider-Man is probably just stressed and thought he was stopping a threat before it came his way...now if you’ll excuse me I must go make my ‘thank you’ speech now that the bulk of the guests have arrived,” Mr. Lincoln replied, maintaining his role of humble host, but still was well aware of the truth. The Avengers or at least Tony Stark had his eye on him, neither wanted open war though so neither would give the other a reason to act...not until one of them had a clear advantage. Until then it was just too business men sticking to their agendas when it came to the public.

But just Mr. Lincoln was beginning to speak, a man calling himself the Green Goblin burst into room by flying in on a glider and smashing through one of the large windows of the building. At the same time several henchmen in pumpkin masks block all exits, making clear escape for normal people would be impossible.

‘Time to show these Halloween rejects who they are dealing with’ Tony thought as he reached to push a button on his watch, only stopping when a well built man who tried to play hero was taken out by a bolt of green electricity, one who Jameson called ‘son’.

“No one go playing hero today ladies and gentlemen...that goes double for you to Stark, I see you down there! We don’t need a fancy tin can or a squad of real heroes storming in when all that needs to happen is for L. Thompson Lincoln to do as I say!” Green Goblin stated, before turning his attention back to his true target.

“Great I come here to send a message to crime lord and end up caught in the middle of a power struggle...can’t tell who’s timing is bad though, PJ’s or Tombstone’s,” Tony grumble, while Pepper shot him a glare.

“I wonder where Spider-Man got inspiration for his bad jokes at terrible moments?” Pepper stated in annoyance, getting a raised eyebrow from Tony.

“You seem to be implying I might be the cause Pepper...I only make good jokes at terrible moments!”

-

Meanwhile Peter and Kamala where enjoying themselves on the dance floor when Peter’s phone went off and both tenses. Both knew when ever having a social life as a teen superhero, phone calls where rarely good things.

“So that’s is what is feels like to be on the other end of these things...I feel sorry for Bruno and Nikia after my bailing on them” Kamala said just loud enough for Peter to hear, giving a nod for him to go take the call while she got some punch.

A few minutes later Peter came and was clearly about to apologize but Kamala stopped him by putting a finger to his lips, which confused Kamala why she did it but forced it down while she spoke, “Go do what you need to do and get back when you can, we both know it’s in the job a description.”

“I promise I’ll make it as quick as possible...Bubblegum,” Peter assured his friend, though was clearly enjoying her reaction to the nickname as he took off, the young Inhuman clearly planning on a few choice words to say to Peter when he got back...with a few real jabs added in for good measure!

“Ditched by the king of the geeks that must sting!” the blonde who was among the ‘in crowd’ mocked, thinking she was messing with the head with the girl who made Flash look foolish earlier.

“Nice try Ms. Blonde in a Bottle, but I have faced better mocking from real blondes and that was barely even a 2 out 10...no trying to deny that is a dye job, I’ve become an expert on the subject due to some friends’ pranks,” Kamala countered with a smirk, her anger at Peter easily put aside to deal with a bimbo who suddenly had own date checking to see if her roots where a different color.

While the in crowd over if their friend was real blonde, Kamala did her best walk away like a boss impression and headed over to the wall to pretended she was phoning someone and say, “Please tell me it’s just some non super powered crime by some miracle”

“Afraid not kiddo, Tony could not activate his distress signal or call his armor but thanks to a certain spider hating man calling his own paper for a photographer, we know it’s happening at charity Tony and Pepper are attending. On the bright side...two of your ‘Squad’ are on the way regardless of not getting orders to do so...Cap is very upset with both of them,” Natasha replied, still cloaked and standing next to Kamala so they could talk.

“Which two?” Kamala asked in confusion, kind of hoping it was both big guns but not sure the building will be able handle both Hulk and Thor.

“Hawkeye and Hulk, something about making sure you guys are still cool...and to welcome new clanmate...I hate that game so much...”

“Join us Natasha, you know you want to!” Kamala teased, only to get a solid flick to the forehead and a promise of more judo training...totally worth it in Kamala’s mind.

-

Meanwhile Spider-Man and Hawkeye where in a hover car zooming towards the tower the charity event was being held, Spidey glad for the ride for both the extra speed and the fact it saved on web fluid.

“Cap looked mad as you grabbed me when I left the school, how much trouble am I in?” Spider-Man asked, thinking it was due to him leaving Kamala with one less guard and not Hawkeye and a frantically jumping Hulk leaving their posts.

“Oh your fine kid, it’s something else getting Cap mad. We can worry about that later though, main goal give Tony cover to suite up and then we go to town on whoever is wrecking the night for you two. Bait or not, I think Kam needed this so let’s break a few noses and blacken some eyes for throwing a wrench into tonight!” Hawkeye said he tried to squeeze some more speed out of the thrusters.

“Agreed...guessing less one liners and puns? Might save us a minute or two,” Spider-Man asked as he did a double take on his web fluid reserves.

“Nah I say just tone it down to half instead, never go messing with your thing too much or you’ll throw yourself off...speaking of throwing!” Hawkeye replied, before pointing toward broken window Green Goblin made when he crashed the party.

Getting the plan instantly, Spider-Man cracked his knuckles and said, “Fire away!”

With that Hawk hit the brakes and launched the teenager of the car and flying through the hole and right at the Green Goblin who got knocked of his glider, while Spider-Man used him to kick off of and land on the floor to fire two web lines at guns held by a pair of goons.

“Sorry but I’m pretty sure you don’t have licenses for these so I’m confiscating them...oops” Spider-Man joked as he tore the guns away and broke them over his knee. As he did this though, his spider sense kicked in and ducked just as a glowing marble soared overhead.

“What the heck?” Spider-Man asked in confusion, before said marble exploded in massive energy blast that sent him flying into the crowed of civilians.

“So the rumours of you having a sixth sense where true, sadly it does not help you much when the attack is unclear!” Green Goblin mocked, getting up from the surprise attack and nodded in thanks to one of his henchmen who’s hands where glowing with the same energy, the only skin he was showing since his mask and clothes covered the rest.

“Want me to finish him?” The glowing man asked, taking out another marble and charged it up while waiting for the yeah or nay order.

It would never come though as arrows rained through the whole in the glass and hit the two disarmed henchmen and the hand holding the marble of the glowing one, creating a prison of foam for the pair and crippling hand and arm of the one with powers by keeping at least one hand out of the fight.

“You should have never attacked a party that has Avengers on the guest list Green Gobster!” Tony called out as he signaled his armor with his watch and its pieces flew into the building and clamped onto owner who was now ready to fight.

“Kaboom fry this metal fool!” Green Goblin ordered, the sound a electricity cracking in the air and fired at Iron Man but the red and gold clad hero raised his hands up and created an energy barrier to block the attack.

Both Iron Man and Spider-Man looked over to see the pumpkin mask being burned away a young woman’s who hair had become electric and...had greyish white skin.

“You! I know someone who wants a few words with you!” Spider-Man growled, jumping at the one called Kaboom knowing she matched the description of the one who killed Kamala’s parents. He had not felt like this since the time his Uncle Ben had been killed, this time Spider-Man would at least keep the anger in check, but that did not mean he was not going to cause some damage first before dragging her in.

“PJs wait! What is with kids these days?!” Iron Man called out, before getting hit with an exploding pumpkin and forced to deal with the ring leader of this circus!

Hawkeye was forced to stay outside since he was a range fighter and diving into a room full of both civilians and hostiles would just make him a liability...good thing the game changer was arriving!

“Our new clan member’s got Ms. M least favorite person is in there but Spider-Man seems to have her well in hand! Help Tony take out the little green one!” Hawkeye called out as Hulk who soared past and crashed into the large room.

Seeing this Green Goblin knew his plans where ruined, Spider-Man plus three Avengers one being the Hulk was not the kind of odds he wished to face. Time for his trump card!

“Alight folks it’s been fun but it’s time for us to leave! You let us go and I don’t set off the special pumpkin bomb I planted!” Green Goblin declared, holding up a detonator which caused even the Hulk to stop in his tracks. Hulk would probably be fine, but the civilians and Spider-Man not likely. Tony it would be hard to gage but still not an ideal gamble in his case either.

“...fine Goblin...you and your friends can go...which means you can stop trying to pummel Sparks over there PJs!” Tony stated loudly for all to hear, eyeing Spider-Man had webbed the one called Kaboom to the wall and was getting ready to make sure she ‘stayed’ there when the order was called out.

Spider-Man clearly wanted argue the point but even with his anger he could not forget what he had been taught and right now responsibility dictated he save the hostages, even if he wanted to be giving his friend a sense of closure.

With a great deal of barely controlled anger he tore Kaboom off the wall and tossed her to the Goblin who just kept smirking at the heroes’ helplessness. It did not take long for the Green Goblin’s forces to gather around him and yet another meta human used a strange blackish blue energy to encircle them and act as portal to escape.

Once gone Iron Man was easily able to detect the bomb hidden in the chandelier and was able to defuse it safely. Peter was able to score a minor win by getting pictures and send them to Robby before Jameson could fire him for ‘not showing up’ but he would have rather been dragging the lighting woman back to the Tower to have chat with Kamala.

“You did the right thing kid...even if Ms. Marvel might not see it at first. Don’t worry even she will know it was right choice once reason catches up with her,” Hawkeye assured the young hero, who needed to get back to his date, for however long that lasted since it was agreed it was best to get Kamala back to the tower to tell her what happened.

-

Kamala had felt humiliated at being voted the Fall Formal Queen by the name ‘The Witty Girl that came with Peter Parker’ but thankfully Peter hand come back before she had to dance with her ‘King’ Flash, though it had been made clear that the battle while won had not been a true victory and the team needed to have meeting about so that meant Kamala needed to return since Cap and Widow where part of her ‘protection team’.

What she had not been expecting was to be called into the meeting room and told what had happened. As expected, the news hurt Kamala badly, to the point she broke down crying and buried her face into the table.

“She was there...Peter had her and she still got to get away!” Kamala sobbed, while Peter did his best to comfort her, feeling like it was his fault Kaboom got away.

“For what it’s worth solider, we now know who she is working for. We find this Green Goblin we find Kaboom and possibly the other two as well,” Steve said in the vain hope it would help Kamala feel a little more assured justice would be served.

“But who is he? Has anyone ever heard of him before...and is he part of the Inhuman kidnappings or is this Kaboom just some kind of freelancer going from job to job and the Green Goblin is just the newest boss? It feels like this will never end!” Kamala managed to ask through the tears, though just as it felt like was going to go full break down a giant hand was placed on her back and she looked up to see Hulk looking down at her with both sadness and assurance.

“We’ll find her Puny Marvel, this will end” Hull reaffirmed his young friend, while Thor and Hawkeye stepped closer as well.

“Your squad has your back kid, we even got the new guy who keeps an eye the street stuff...no being a solo act on this Web Head, you hear even rumours you contact us!” Hawkeye said to both teens, knowing while it was not completely taking the pain away could tell he had at least gave a small spark of hope in sobbing girl’s eyes.

“Hey I’m beating you to the goal Bubblegum!” Peter joked, making said eyes now widen as she got the implication Peter was closer to being an Avengers then her and had used that stupid nickname again.

“Peter...I am going to kill you!” Kamala yelled, kicking the flats off so she could run better, while her target had already started taking off while most of the others in the room laughed, Pepper being the one to try and tell the two teens to not fool around in the tower, but was stopped by Black Widow hand clamping over her mouth.

“Not the time to be the pretended Ammi, Potts!” Widow stated with a glare, making the other woman stop in her tracks as flashback to the backhand played in her mind.

-

Meanwhile Norman Osborn was in his home office using his computer to access a secure connection to his ‘partner’ after the failed attempt to seize control of the Big Man’s criminal operations.

He had asked for the assistance of several Inhumans he had been helping said partner gather, saying having access to Tombstone’s operations would only make hunting down more all the easier.

It took a few minutes, but soon the screen showed blue skinned woman wearing a helmet answered and she did not look happy, “You promised this would lead me to new warriors Osborn, but all it has done is further draw the attention of the Avengers and that young whelp Spider-Man! Give me one good reason I should not terminate this partnership!”

“Oh it has given us something even better, confirmation Ms. Marvel is indeed in the tower and making contact with others if Spider-Man’s reaction to Kaboom in any indication. While is not the most powerful candidate we have found, her power set is flexible and still strong in its own right so finding a way to draw her away from her ‘guards’ would only be to our advantage!” Osborn replied confidently, despite Hala scoffing at this.

“The child barely won against that weakling Shocker and that was with two tries!” Hala countered, thinking this was waste of time.

“True but that is more of a weakness on the mind, not the body. We break her and rebuild her from the ground up she would either make a fine warrior for the Kree Empire or a decent test subject for my experiments, either way we gain something and at the same time we might get a chance to destroy the Avengers so they can’t interfere any longer.” Osborn replied casually, clearly not worried that Hala would end their deal just yet.

After moment of thinking it over Hala asked, “Do you have a plan in mind to draw her out? Or at least wear down her defenses if nothing else?”

“I do, one so simple it was possibly make her break without us needing to do a thing or let us see just how close she has become with the Avengers.”

-

Fire once again surrounded Kamala, but unlike previous times, she had no shield, no protectors, just her mask and the clothing she wore to the dance and so was slowly being taken apart by her better self.

“Pathetic!” Her Abu’s voice called out as Ms. Marvel grabbed Kamala and slammed her into the ground.

“Disgraceful!” her Ammi’s added, as Kamala felt something snake around her leg and get pulled towards Ms. Marvel, her other arm increasing in size to deliverer a devastating blow.

“I can’t believe you actually went out dressed like that...they are right to believe you are not her, pretty sure your parents would be disgusted if they could see behind that mask...my mask!” Ms. Marvel stated, preparing to smash Kamala into paste, when a roar could be heard from beyond the flames.

“What now?!” Ms. Marvel demanded, just before a giant green mass come flying at her and punched her right in the face.

Kamala was about to go flying with Ms. Marvel from the force of the blow but an arrow with a sort of claw had clamped down on her wrist and she looked up to see Hawkeye securing the other end to the ground. The line kept her secure while her better half was sent to the edge of the ring of fire.

“Leave our squad mate alone!” Hawkeye called over, while Hulk just smirked while punching the palm of his opposite hand and began cracking his knuckles.

“Oh for the love of...how many of you do I have squash like bugs before you get the message none of you can keep her from her punishment!” Ms. Marvel growled, growing to her giant size and moved to stomp the Hulk, only to go wide eyed when her foot did not go all the way down and actually was getting pushed back.

“You talk too much!” Hulk roared out as he gave the massive foot one final push before Ms. Marvel started to fall backwards, forcing her to shrink down to normal to avoid falling into the flames.

“We are...winning? But she is supposed to be...” Kamala started to say, as Hawkeye came to her side and helped her up.

“What you thought you could over power Hulk of all people? Don’t worry kid, this one nightmare you are going to like the ending to!” Hawkeye said with smirk, giving the normally scared teenager a wink and the feeling that reassured her.

“I’m not beat yet!” Ms. Marvel roared out, increasing the size of her arms and charged the Hulk, trying to trade blows with the green giant, but each one left him unfazed and all Hulk had to do was slap her around as a counter. He was practically toying with her!

“This has been fun Fake Puny Marvel, but time for you to be put to bed!” Hulk stated as Ms. Marvel looked wobbly and pulled back his fist for the finishing blow, when she suddenly shrunk to a small size as he swung and got thrown off balance as she dove between his legs and went back to her normal stature.

“Oh no you don’t!” Hawkeye growled as he pulled out an exploding arrow and took his shot, but Ms. Marvel’s arm stretched out and caught the projectile at the halfway point and threw it back at him.

Hawkeye knowing what was about to happen pushed Kamala to safety while he got blasted with his own arrow, making Kamala so focused on creaming out to him she did see the giant hand coming down like a fly swatter until it was too late.

“And that was what happened” Kamala explained, retelling Rachel the dream from last night after Peter left for home and she had tried to get some sleep. The medication was helping but she still had nightmares every so often, though having some decent sleep every once and awhile was better than none like before.

“Well...then I say we are possibly making progress with these dream of yours,’ Rachel replied with a smile, making her patient look at her like she was the crazy one.

“I got turned into paste again...how is that progresses!” Kamala demanded, while Lockjaw came over and nuzzled her so she could calm down. He always knew how to comfort her during these sessions when going over the nightmares.

“You always felt your dream self was prefect, even invincible at times but now she clearly had to ‘earn’ that win and she in real life would have lost. Hulk was still standing and most likely watching two of his friends harmed would have only increased his rage and with it his strength!” Rachel pointed out, trying to make it clear Kamala might be starting to doubt how ‘prefect’ her other self was.

“But...no one else has ever made a second appearance in my dreams...so even if it’s true she can be ‘beat’ it still took Hulk to even do it. What if he does not come back like everyone else has done so far?” Kamala asked, practically begging for a way to finally win against her other half. It was the only way she could see the nightmares ending.

“That’s the thing Kamala, you don’t need the Hulk to do it, you just need to keep doing what you have been doing and one day you will ‘win’, you will get past the dreams you just need time to do it,’ Rachel said as she stood up from the computer chair and signaled Lockjaw the session was up for now.

“What have I been doing? I have not been doing anything special,” Kamala asked, confused at what she could be doing that was helping her deal with the nightmares.

“I can’t tell you that Kamala, the best way for any form of mental health issue to heal is allowing the patient to reach their own conclusions. One piece of wrong advise could make you feel I set you up to get hurt, so I have avoid doing so unless I’m certain its truly needed,” Rachel answered, as Lockjaw teleported them away, leaving Kamala still trying to figure out what the woman meant.

After wracking her brains for a few minutes, Kamala gave up and headed for the front room to see if any of the Clan was up for more farming. Not knowing one of her therapist’s ideas on what Kamala was doing was exactly this, bonding with others. Learning she was not alone and could count on others to help her out of this darkness that consumed her life.


	7. Expo Love, Hate and Symbiote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala is being used as bait again, this time at the Stark Expo but so far the only people attracted to the event are mostly scientists, people Peter knows or a former employ/foe of Tony's called Ghost.
> 
> When Ghost steals an important piece of Iron Man technology that lets him control all other forms of tech at the expo, including those used by heroes new and old, can Kamala save the day with the help the strange substances called V-252...more importantly can she control it or will it control her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 7, please let me know what you think or leave kudos :D

Chapter 7 – Expo Love, Hate and Symbiote 

Kamala could not believe this the current ‘bait outing’ so far she had no say in where in any of them…all two of them but still!

‘The Stark Expo…it’s an overblown science fair…what about this screams normal teenager hangout spot!’ Kamala mentally screamed as she came out of the back room for staff and security, which was being run by Steve at Tony’s request so both of them along with Peter could be on ‘guard duty’.

To provide the right balance of ‘here is the target’ while making sure the average people might not accidently recognize her as the missing daughter of the two people Ms. Marvel failed to save, Kamala had black Avengers baseball hat and jacket with giant red A on the back with sleeves that where white and the rest being black. She also wore a pair of sunglasses to hopefully keep her face from being easily recognized. The rest of her attire was a pair of blue jean and her favorite black t-shirt with the lightning bolt.

Between the Avengers attire and the lightning bolt in semi plain view, anyone looking for a possible Ms. Marvel look alike might notice her, while people just there to attend the expo would assume it was an Avengers fan there to see the Mark 50’s unveiling.

Kamala pretended to glance at the various projects from both major science labs to high schools that had bright minds and possibly the extra funding put in a display that would catch the judges’ eyes. Even those who did not win the expo prize could get solid attention for promising ideas to be backed or purchased by either Tony or by other companies that watched the Stark Expo.

The one Kamala knew had Peter’s attention was the one called the V-252 exhibit, the one run by both his former ‘employers’ Curt and Martha Connors and a man named Max Modell. She did not know why black space snot was so great, but she was not a science geek like Peter so maybe he understood something she did not.

‘How can someone not getting paid be fired? Asking him come back I could understand but to outright call it being fired…how? If they only knew it was Peter did all the heavy lifting when saving Mr. Connors…says the girl who hid who she was from bulk of the people she loved,’ Kamala thought sadly, heading for the meeting point with Peter, when she saw both that had words ‘radiation absorber nanites’ which made Kamala stop and head over to see a young black girl and a Korean boy setting the area, clearly only just recently arrived.

“This crazy idea of your better work Amadeus, I swear if this makes me look bad…” the black girl started to says when the Korean boy cut her off.

“It will work Riri! It will impress Mr. Stark so much he will love to see your ‘personal project’ and you can find out if he approves, plus get our foot in the door! You got the tech invented by 7th smartest guy on the planet on your side, have a little faith!” the boy now known as Amadeus said he set up the computer while the one known as Riri setup a small glass chamber into a strange device Kamala could be what makes the ‘radiation’ or whatever they would use for the nanites.

“Only you see yourself the 7th smartest person Amadeus and personally after seeing how you proved these things even work, I have MANY doubts in your intelligence…or at least your sanity!” Riri shot back, clearly not liking whatever the pair had in store for the expo, which in turn made Kamala nervous but knew she could not stick around to figure out what is was or make Peter worry where she was.

‘Probably have Peter come back to see this, he is the science guy so he might be able to tell me if I’m just jumping at shadows…assuming I can drag him away from the space snot!’ Kamala thought as she continued to where the V-252 exhibit was supposed to be.

The expo was only starting to open so not many people beyond those setting up so she was confused why she could not see Peter, but assumed maybe he got held up. Given his role as a superhero, she could see any number of issues popping up on the way here, let alone the things New York can throw at heroes. It was practically the capital city of superheroes and villains!

To kill time Kamala figured she would look at space snot, only to be stopped by a blonde girl her age with glasses, one Kamala knew from picture as Gwen Stacy, one of Peter’s friends…or exfriend? Kamala was no longer sure.

“So…are you here with Pete or is the fall formal queen interested in science?” Gwen demanded, eying the Avengers clothing and probably avoiding asking about the Mark 50 to avoid sounding rude.

“Lost the coin toss, I wanted to go to the arcade he wanted to see space snot…speaking of which have you seen him?” Kamala replied, suddenly feeling like she was on the defensive, but not for herself for some reason. What was going on? She felt like this girl was a threat to something, but what?

Gwen raised an eyebrow at this and was about press more, when Peter’s voice called out, “There you are Bubblegum…I see you met Gwen…”

Both girls turned to see Peter rushing up, the way he was rushing implied to Kamala he had been busy on the way here. Hopefully just regular crime stuff, she already knew he was probably still sore from fighting yet another new villain called Doctor Octopus at Coney Island yesterday.

“What do you mean ‘there you are’? I was here first! And for all that is holy stop calling me Bubblegum!” Kamala growled out, more due to the nickname then him being late and acting like he had been looking for her. Peter was chronically late from what Kamala could tell…something they shared from her own experience as a superhero so hard to be mad for that.

“Traffic was bad! Any why? I think it’s almost as cute as…I’ll stop right there…” Peter replied as he held his hands in front him, though translated from hero speak he meant he probably stopped some minor crimes along the way. Though the last part had stopping and blushing along with the benched heroine.

Gwen looked darkly at Peter then back at Kamala and was about to say something when large plump man approached them with red hair and mustache, he also wore a pair glasses. Kamala felt he gave off a rather friendly aura and seemed friendly enough, though did still had a concerned look on his face.

“Is there a problem Ms. Stacy?” the man asked, making the blonde girl act a bit more timid more out of respect then fear, but it was Peter who answered for his friend.

“It’s my fault Mr. Modell, I caused an…incident when was still employed by the Connors as an intern and Ms. Stacy is just making sure I’m here strictly to look not touch kind of thing,” Peter explained, hoping to draw fire away from his friend with a partial lie, since that had not been why Gwen had approached them but it would make sense given how awkward the pair’s friendship had been since the incident.

Max’s face only slightly darkened at hearing this, more like he was only mad for a second during the initial realization and softened once the shock wore off.

“I heard about you Mr. Parker, it’s a shame to hear someone so bright giving into greed, I hope the money was worth it,” Max Modell said in a disappointed tone, which only angered Kamala since he only knew the Connors’ side of the story.

“His family having a roof over their heads is a bad thing!” Kamala growled out, shocking Gwen and Max while Peter look horrified since he did not want that to get out, from both not wanting hide behind that fact and being a bit embarrassed by the situation. This of course made Kamala go pale as she realized what she had done and quickly let out an apology start running back the way she came.

“Kam? Kam! Come back!” Peter called out, his personal humiliation quickly pushed aside so he could go after the girl who had only meant to stand up for him. Not in a way he would have wanted, but the intention was from a good place.

“Did I hear that right Gwen?” a new voice asked, both said girl and Max turning to see Eddie coming up with coffee for everyone and clearly had overheard what Kamala had said in anger. It made so much more sensed now, though neither the young adult nor the teenager had thought of it at time that with Ben’s passing things could have taken such a dramatic turn at the Parker household.

-

Meanwhile Kamala was not running at top speed thinking Peter would follow. So she was surprised when he actually shot around her and blocked her path. Curse his overall enhancement to physical traits while having a normal looking body!

“I’m sorry!” Kamala blurted out, before trying to circle around him like he did, but her normal human body VS a spider powered one was just not a fair matchup. Peter easily blocked her again and wrapped his arms around her to keep the petite girl locked down at long last.

“Take it easy Kamala, I know you did not mean to let that out…not happy about it but I know you did not mean to cause any harm,” Peter said quietly, even though no real crowed had entered yet. It was more a reflex to speak softly on things classified as ‘secret’ in his mind, it probably also helped calm Kamala down.

“It does not change the fact I spilled the beans something you told me in confidences, you don’t go blabbing my secrets as far as I know!” Kamala sobbed into his chest, thinking she might have lost yet another friend because her actions despite said friend’s current actions.

“I like to think I haven’t, but let’s worry about that later…let go have some fun and check some of this stuff out,” Peter suggested, making Kamala let up on the tears if no other reason to give him a ‘seriously?’ look.

“We are at an overblown science fair, so far the only highlights I see coming are the Mark 50 and the small bit of hope they will let me poke the space snot with stick in hopes of making it do something interesting!” Kamala stated dryly, getting a laugh from a nearby booth.

“Look Riri, a fellow Iron Man fan! You two can gush over the newest model of the tin solider together!” came a semi familiar voice over to the left of them and Kamala and Peter looked over to see the boy Kamala knew as Amadeus from over hearing him and Riri talking earlier.

Said girl just rolled her eyes and called over to the pair, “You two want to go any further with that, you might want to get a room! Amadeus will probably start filming you two with his phone otherwise…he is kind of jerk like that!”

Both Peter and Kamala were confused at this until they looked down and realized Peter’s arms were still around Kamala. This made him let go and both turn their backs slightly to each other to hide their blushes.

“S-sorry!” Peter managed to get out while Kamala replied with a, “I-It’s alright!” All the while Amadeus was snickering at the sight, but stopped when Riri smacked him upside the head.

Peter meanwhile started reading what the project the pair would be presenting and felt a bit worried.

“Why do I keep wanting to add the word ‘gamma’ to the sign?” Peter said allowed, which made Kamala laugh despite their current awkward situation since he had similar thoughts when she saw the sign earlier.

Meanwhile Amadeus just smirked while Riri face palmed at the implication. If only the other boy knew what the ‘test’ radiation had been!

“Is it my fault a local hero made that type of radiation famous? Though actually the nanites could be modified to absorb other forms of energy in theory, radiation is just type I focused on since there is so many harmful ones we worry about. With these and lot more research would use them to clean up various disasters, though right now they are mainly useful in helping body handle radiation absorption thus preventing any nasty side effects.” Amadeus explained, though gave off the feeling he was holding back something big on purpose.

Both Kamala and Peter looked at each other and asked at the same time, “Why does that not make me feel better?”

“Why are geniuses never appreciated in their own time?” Amadeus stated in clearly mock offense, rolling with his fellow teens’ reactions to the project while Riri just glared at him.

“Stop calling yourself that until ACTUAL geniuses refer to you as one! As for the bad feelings you two are getting, I can’t blame you. Useful on paper but this tech I could easily see being altered for a ton of other uses…like the willing creation of certain beings!” Riri stated with glare at her ‘partner’ but took on a more friendly but concerned demeanor when addressing Kamala and Peter.

“If the correct counter measures are taken, I fail to see how that is a bad thing given the world we currently live in,” A new voice cut in, making all four turn see Norman Osborn and Harry coming up to them, Norman being the one who spoke up.

“No offense Mr. Osborn, but there is not ‘counter measure’ that could stop multiple Hulks!” Riri countered, while Amadeus stopped being so relaxed clearly something put him on alert. Peter wondered if Harry’s dad had made an offer for nanites previously or something.

“True but with enough fine tuning the ideal strength level could be attained that would boost a small army but avoid reaching the levels of being berserkers, but such what ifs are for another time,” Norman replied casually, before turning to Peter and Kamala.

“It’s good to see you here this year Peter, I was worried you might be missing do to your new job at the Bugle. Jameson has been keeping busy with all those Spider-Man jobs, I figured you would be out hunting him down again…who is your friend? I don’t believe we have had the pleasure,” Norman replied with more friendly tone, before looking to Kamala in confusion since he knew Peter did not have many friends beyond his son and Gwen Stacy.

“I’m Nikia, Peter and I met when he needed a date for the fall formal. People he knows from work introduced us,” Kamala replied, not knowing if a man as connected as Norman Osborn would pay attention to events in Jersey so was worried using her first name and a different last name would have little effect.

“Charmed, good to see Peter is trying to expand his social circles, now if you excuse me I must be getting back to Oscorp’s exhibit. If we are to outclass Tony Stark’s little show, I must make sure everything is ready,” Norman replied, shaking Kamala’s hand before excusing himself and bidding Harry to follow who gave Kamala a friendly nod before following along.

After seeing the Osborn pair leave, Kamala let out a breath she did not know she was holding and ask, “How does a guy act that friendly and still feel so intense?”

“Welcome to Norman Osborn, been trying figure out how he does that for years…come on let’s see the Mark 50’s unveiling and then wander around for bit before heading back to the V-252 booth, I still want to get look at it but think we both can agree we should let things settle down over there,” Peter suggested, which Kamala agreed to reluctantly until Peter added he would help her farm Khora’s systems once they done at the expo. This gave her something to look forward to while dealing with all the science stuff.

“Didn’t the boy call her Kamala? Why would she say her name was Nikia?” Amadeus asked, getting an equally confused look from Riri. Something was up, but for now they needed to focus on their work if the plan was to work.

-

Fifteen minutes later the two teens where at the main stage as Tony announced the new version of his armor when a voice echo through the expo hall, “Tony Stark is just a thieving capitalist who is so focused and being the tech titan he stole my ideas and left me in the cold!”

“Kamala, stay here while I go get changed!” Peter whispered to his friend, who nodded even though she wished she could be of help but with the nullifier hidden under her left sleeve active and the energy shield back at the tower, there was no way she could be of help right now. Peter on the other hand still could become Spider-Man and back Tony up, along with Steve who Kamala hoped was either nearby or heading to the main floor as they spoke.

“So now I’ve come to take control of his ideas and put him in the cold hard ground!” The echo declared, while a ghostly white shape descended from the ceiling and into the Mark 50, while Iron Man’s back was turned, raising a hand to fire a repulsor toward him, which Tony countered at the last second with one of his own.

Sadly the shockwave of the blasts caused a display to start to fall towards some on lookers and had Spider-Man dive in to push the people out of the way and brace himself to hold the object up, only have nothing hit him so looked up to see…a younger looking Hulk?

“Um…big guy…did you do something with your hair? Face?” Spider-Man asked, while this new Hulk tossed the display aside with ease. Meanwhile Kamala was snapping a picture of this while texting the real Hulk.

“You must be thinking of Banner, I’m much more awesome!” The new Hulk boasted, while Iron Man tried to stop the intruder but was having trouble over powering his newest creation.

“Give it up Ghost, you can’t win! I’ve beaten you plenty of times before and that was before I had a team!” Iron Man ordered, hoping to keep the chaos to a minimum but doubted given how much Ghost hated him.

“With what I have planned Stark, you will need more then the Avengers to defeat me!” Ghost retorted, continuing his assault using the weapons of the Mark 50. Even though he did not need the amour for his plans, he felt the irony of attacking Iron Man with his own creation very satisfying.

“Did you plan for this!” a female robotic voice called out, and a very crude imitation of the Mark 41 came flying in, though it was a plain steel gray rather than the famous red and yellow. It tackled the Mark 50 and slammed it into the ground, though the pin only lasted seconds as the more advanced armor pushed it off with ease.

“Using outdated armor to back you up Stark? Getting even lazier I see!” Ghost stated as he prepared to blast the newcomer, but as he fired a familiar red, white and blue hero dove in and used his shield to block the energy blasts.

“This is your last warning Ghost, surrender and make things easier on yourself!” Captain America ordered, having been watching the cameras what had been going on and was on the move once he knew it was Ghost being the threat. He also saw a certain hug earlier and wondered if he needed to give a certain spider themed hero ‘the talk’. He might not be Kamala’s father but she was still his student and did not want either teen stuck in an awkward position after one bad decision.

“If you think of few extra heroes will stop me from destroying you Stark? Most of them are barely out of diapers!” Ghost growled out, before suddenly getting a massive electroshock from inside the armor he had stolen and was forced phase out of it.

“Funny then it was one of diaper heroes that gave me idea to give you a nice little feedback pulse using the Mark 50 ability control other armors remotely against you, you are done! Nice work PJs” Tony stated smugly before fisting bumping Spider-Man, both thinking this fight was a wrap.

Ghost was not done though he slowly got up and showed he wore the Mark 50’s interconnectivity disks on his hands. The very thing he wanted from the start, since it would allow him control anything tech based at the expo, including Iron Man’s armor!

“You’re finished now Stark, technology is now your enemy now that I have these disks!” Ghost declared, as a wave of electricity surged throughout the expo and infected the various machines. Sadly including the Osborn exhibit’s main attraction, robots modeled after the Vulture’s flight suite. In theory they would make excellent robotic security drones but Norman had geared them toward military level to make them more impressive.

“Oh fudge” Kamala squeaked out as she watched from a distance, praying Hulk had read the text because they needed some non tech muscle right now! Most of the heroes present used tech, even Peter’s webshooters where tech so Cap and this new Hulk where only ones who could be of help…or so she thought until she saw the new Hulk start to glow with green energy and slowly shrink in size.

“He has hacked my nanites! I can’t stay transformed!” The new Hulk called out in shock, as he slowly changed into the Amadeus kid from earlier! Kamala then realized the girl named Riri must be the one in the other Iron Man armor!

‘They came to expo for that reason? To meet Tony…are they hoping to be Avengers or something else?’ Kamala, thought as the heroes struggles to fend off the robotic vulture force while and control their own tech!

“Spider-Man, either take out the web cartridge or remove your webshooters! They are just giving Ghost more to work with!” Captain America called out, while fending off the Mark 41 copy as the girl kept apologizing for not being able to regain control.

Meanwhile Spider-Man tried keep Cho safe while avoiding Iron Man’s attacks, at least until Tony forced an emergency eject to stop blasting the two teens and expose his Iron Man’s arc reactor to Ghost’s control!

“Leave him alone!” Spider-Man roared in anger as he used all the spider strength he could muster to jump at Ghost, who just took control of the pieces of Tony’s discarded armor to knock him away, followed up by a sonic blast from one of the vulture drones blasting him with a sonic blast that sent him flying into the V-252 exhibit where the Connors, Max, Gwen and Eddie had taken cover, since they needed keep the substance safe or face backlash by those who allowed them accesses to it.

“Spidey!” Kamala called out, dashing across the room despite the battle, much to the protests of those who were trying to fight it.

No one noticed the glass of the V-252 cracking from the force of the battle and very substance smashing into the sides of the glass casing, as if it was alive. It not until the glass shattered those seeking cover near it looked to see it flying towards the fallen hero…only for it hit the petite girl instead as she got in its way when rushing to his side.

Ghost laughed evilly thinking he had won, Tony Stark was dying as his arc reactor began to fail, the two unknown heroes where either forced to fight for him or rendered powerless and Captain America was barely holding his own as he fought one in the outdated armor plus the vulture drones.

“Nothing can stop me now!” Ghost yelled in triumph, though his gloating ended when a sparking piece and red, blue and yellow metal hit him in the back of the head hard enough to make Ghost drop to his knees looking dazed.

This broke his control over all of the machines he was controlling, including Tony’s arc reactor, causing his starting sucking in air out of relief. He then looked up to see a girl in a black tight suit and mask much like the one he gave Kamala for the school infiltration mission, only this one had white lightning bolt on the chest.

“Sorry for the wait TS, needed to snap my leash…I’ll make this quick,” the voice of Kamala came from the young woman before said with an eerily calm tone, like a cold rage was hiding beneath the surface and was slowly building.

“Ms…Marvel?...How?” Tony asked weakly, still recovering from the attack on the device that kept him alive.

“Apparently…magic space snot…let’s see what it can do because I feel…better than ever!” The girl said with a feral grin her face, before diving at Ghost with punch so strong it sent him flying like it had been Spider-Man…only she used her normal form to do it!

“Oooh me likey and this without my powers…so let’s see what happened when I…Embiggen!” Kamala called out, her arms rocketing forward at speeds she never achieved before one sending another punch to Ghost’s face and the other hand stopping him from flying back and get dragged back towards Kamala.

“You should have surrendered when they asked Ghost…now you have to face the consequences!” Kamala stated coldly and raised her unaltered fist to strike, when the disks on Ghost’s hands began to glow again, taking control the robot vultures again.

Before Kamala knew what was happened they had circle around from above and let loose a sonic attack that let Ghost phase through the ground while Kamala screamed in pain...as did the black substance that covered her body! Its acted like it was being torn apart and was thrashing about in an attempt to save itself!

“Ha! So much for your new suit Ms. Marvel…aren’t criminal supposed to be in cells not at expos!” Ghost mocked, his words plus the pain from the sonic attack enraged both Kamala as well as the V-252. He would pay!

The black substance launched a portion of its self upward and pulled Kamala and the rest of itself to the safety of the rafters, before launching out more tendrils at each of the vultures and ripping the heads off the robots.

“What?!” Ghost cried out in shock, before Kamala came flying back down in a rage and tackling him, before striking him over and over again in the face until the mask started to crack under the force of the blows.

“Give up those disks…then apologize!” Kamala screamed in her rage, only semi brought out of it when the voice of Tony called out, “He is beat Ms. Marvel! Let security handle the rest!”

“Why? He would have killed you…he tried to kill us! We won’t let him get another chance!” Kamala countered, her voice sounding like two speaking at the same time once she started speaking in the third person.

“Tony Stark is right Ms. Marvel…more importantly that suit…its alive and is clearly affecting you!” Max Modell called out as he and Connors came out from cover. Meanwhile Gwen and Eddie where helping Spider-Man to his feet, unknown to him they started to suspect who was under the mask given the same girl had been with Peter had rushed to the hero’s side before the V-252 latched onto her.

“It make us better…stronger…whole! Why should we give it up! With this we will not fear our own dreams! The ones who hunt us will pay!” Kamala stated, her hand shifting to a double headed axe, showing a power the normal Ms. Marvel did not have.

“We are not talking you slime ball, we want Stretch! Get off her so we know who is really in control!” Tony demanded, feeling a bit strong from both getting chance to catch his breath and the anger from watching this unknown being mess his young charge’s mind. He knew the real Kamala would not be so vicious unless pushed to the edge but even at the start of the fight she had been at least cold and aggressive, growing worse with each attack.

“Don’t order us around liar! You tricked us! Used us! Tell us pretty words and then send others to ‘help’ after we did all the work and then we find out you spied on us the whole time!” Kamala countered, confusing everyone who knew of the mission Kamala spoke of. She had not brought up such things normally so why now? Was the creature using past memories to control her or just stripping away the restraints that held them back?

“You still did not tell her anything?!” Captain America demanded, know the recordings where a part of that rant.

“Was letting her cool off…then we got busy so I do admit I should have told her sooner…Stretch those recording are your proof! Proof you are not some short tempered teen on a power trip! When you’re ready, when you have healed more…they will be your proof that night was a onetime thing! So far the only time you acted like that since then is with that stuff on you! You need to get rid of it!” Tony called out, seeming to phase the teen for a second, but then the suit rippled and Kamala shook head like clearing mental fog away.

“Liar! You just want us weak again!” Kamala shouted back, clearly second guessing what she was feeling but the creature must have regained its partial control.

“You are the liar! I know my student and she is nothing like you, get off her before we make you!” Captain America ordered, knowing they had to reach Kamala if they where to get whatever this thing was off her.

“Stop telling us who we…” Kamala started to say, but a web shot covered her mouth as Spider-Man had heard enough of this thing speaking through his friend.

“Just shut up and give Bubblegum back!” Spider-Man yelled as he web swung over to Kamala knocked the partial possessed girl off the still dazed Ghost. Spider man did his best to keep the girl pinned, but clearly this stuff was at least as strong as him, possibly stronger.

It did not take long for enhanced inhuman to push Spider-Man off by grabbing his shoulders stretching her arms, making easy to get enough distance from her opponent/friend rip the webbing from her mouth.

“Don’t call me that!” Kamala screamed out, for once Kamala being the only one speaking. Not the way anyone wanted to reach her but at least it was something.

“Why not? I think it sounds almost cute as you look…well when you’re not cover black space snot!” Spider-Man countered, many not sure if it him forgetting where he was or he simply was just trying to get a rise out of the real Kamala. Most would guess Peter would never say that in front of the Avengers lets alone in front the still sparsely occupied room of bystanders.

“I will so pu…we will…no I mean I…stop fighting us!” Kamala started so say, but clearly she and the suit where now at odds once she started realize the line between the two of them was thinning. Now Kamala felt like she was fighting for her life, before she was swallowed by this thing she now wore.

“That’s right Ms. Marvel, fight it” Captain America called out, ignoring the partial confession that Peter liked Kamala…though was defiantly going to have a talk with the boy later. If Peter was lucky it would only be him and not Tony or the ‘squad’ adding their two cents.

“Come on Stretch, you got this!” Tony added, though he was going through current suit’s arsenal looking for anything that could be used to create sonic waves. Clearly the black stuff did not like high pitch sounds. He was so busy he did not see Amadeus and Riri modifying salvaged sonic scream devices from the vulture drones to the palms of Riri’s armor.

“Stop confusing us…no stop talking for me!” Kamala screamed out, trying to rip the suit from her body, but just slipped through her hands, Spider-Man tried to help but the slime refused to allow either teen to get a grip for long.

“Need a hand Ms. Marvel?” Amadeus called out, smirking at his pun while Riri groaned but still powered up her improvised weapons.

Kamala looked over and seemed like she was about run, but then her own arms extended to grab her ankles like she was fighting the urge. She then turned back and screamed out, “Do it!”

With that command Riri fired the sonic attack, trying to blast the V-252 off the fellow teen hero. It clearly working since it once again looked like was being torn apart, this time though it tried to escape by latching onto Spider-Man but he dove away before it could get a grip.

This forced the V-252 to try and slither away from the sound but was pinned down by as barrage of webbing until the Connors and Max could get a new containment devise for the clearly dangerous substance.

“So much for being a new element and for getting your hopes up for something better than your current prostatic Curt, the V-252 held such promise but now that we know it’s alive…” Max started to tell his friend, but the one armed just wave him off.

“None of us thought it was alive Max and as for my arm…well I learned there are more important things in life. Besides there will always be new innovations, right now we should be glad…almost…no one was hurt,” Curt said, looking sadly in Ms. Marvel direction.

Eddie had rushed over and threw his jacket over the young heroine’s head to hide her face once the V-252 was removed, looking away as best he could to not see it with the sunglasses and hat now missing…even though he and Gwen had recognized the girl already. It did not help they heard Peter call his date Bubblegum at the dance and now Spider-Man had called Ms. Marvel the same thing.

Neither acted like they knew who she was though, they had no intention of revealing either teen’s identity. It even started putting a lot of Peter’s past actions in perspective.

Underneath the jacket Kamala sobbed, feeling like she just made Ms. Marvel look more like a crazy person then before. Fighting with herself in the middle of a battle no less! Even if news was told of the V-252, why would they believe it was the space snot over her just being insane!

While Kamala was distracted by her thought, Tony back in his armor put his hand on her should and asked, “Quinjet is almost her Stretch, soon we can get you back to tower and you can relax”

“It doesn’t matter where I am anymore…after today…” Kamala started to say but was cut off by a firmly yet still friendly Tony Stark.

“After today you proved the same thing as my other recordings, you where in a high stress situation and made the right call. There will always be those who will doubt you, your friend PJs is a fine example given all the good he has done yet still the likes of Jameson try to make him look like a villain. If you want to be Ms. Marvel when the time comes, we got your back,” Tony assured the young heroine, who was shocked under her cover.

‘But I…’ the confused Kamala tried to figure out how Tony could say she did right thing when she felt like she lost control, but was stopped by a different but familiar pair of red gloved hands reached under the jacket and offered her a blue domino mask she knew all too well.

“Let’s go solider, we got a lot of teens who need to get back to the tower who need to explain themselves, don’t worry you not one of them” Captain America assured the girl as put the mask on and could leave her cover.

As she handed the jacket back to Eddie but as she turned leave Gwen who had been next to him stopped her and whispered in her ear, “Be good to him or I’ll make you regret it!”

Kamala was confused as what the blonde meant until memories of Peter’s unusual form of confession and thus got stiff as a board as she left the expo.

Sadly for Kamala and Peter there were two others who realized who they were, mainly Norman Osborn, he had know about Kamala did not recognize when the met earlier. Finding out Peter was Spider-Man was the actual shocker, he always knew the boy had potential but sadly it put him at odds with Norman’s plans. Harry meanwhile was shocked to find out his friend Spider-Man, though does he approach him about it or wait for Peter to do so?

On the quinjet, Kamala shivered at the sight of the V-252’s container being placed in one of the lockers until it could be taken a secure location at the tower. Kamala would have preferred it to be sent back into space or dropped into the ocean.

Meanwhile Peter jumped onto the ceiling of the quinjet holding a flashing in one hand and looked right at Riri before turning the flashlight on and holding it right close to the black girl’s face.

“You will tell me what I want to know or we will make you give Hulk a foot massage!” Spider-Man stated in a clear mock interrogation voice, much to Kamala’s confusion, until he glanced at her and she could practically feel his smile through his mask. He was trying to cheer her up…the goof ball.

Riri just shielded her eyes in annoyance and tried to ignore the wall crawler but he kept moving the flashlight around her block until she heard the Hulk clear his throat and point to his feet.

“You have got to be kidding me…” Riri deadpanned, while Kamala finally started laughing. It seemed her ‘clan’ had her back even when she wanted to be miserable.

-

“So she is with them…foolish to use her as bait like that. It’s so obvious it’s painful!” Hala commented while Norman only nodded with a smirk on his face.

“True but now we know she is there and not snuck off to some secret location. More importantly, she will be shaken by her encounter with this Klyntar you called it? The plan is already set to begin so the timing is perfect,” Norman added, thinking such a move in Ms. Marvel’s home city should be enough to enough make her force her way out of the tower or shatter what was left of her.

“True…but what if she can’t get away from the Avengers or at least weaken her trust in them? What then?” Hala demanded, wanting to have several backup plans in case this first one was not enough to make Ms. Marvel snap.

“I have already Kaboom working on the details, it should give just enough of a case of déjà vu to force Ms. Marvel into action no matter what they try to do,’ Norman assured his ‘partner’.

-

“When will you be satisfied?!” Kamala screamed in pain as got slammed into the ground again, her other self being far more deliberate in her strikes, not going for the quick win like she normally did.

“When you ever fix the mistake you made by killing me! If I was still around the Khan’s murderers would have been caught already, the missing Inhumans found and the whole plot brought to light! Instead you have been playing house and going out on dates! Grow up and get me back out there instead of in this fire pit!” Ms. Marvel demanded, forcing Kamala to her feet and proceeded to punch her like Kamala did during morning training with Cap and the punching bag.

‘She even knows everything I’m learning!’ Kamala screamed internally as she got pummeled with a barrage of well placed jabs and right crosses, the first time Ms. Marvel had not relied on her powers of Embiggening to deal the damage.

“See? I can do anything you can and can do it better, you could not even get your guard up!” Ms. Marvel said with pride, before grabbing Kamala’s arm and judo throwing her to the ground.

Kamala was growing more and more scared with every passing blow, until a familiar black ooze tackled Ms. Marvel to the ground and consumed her…just long enough to spit her back out like she tasted bad!

V-252 then reached out towards Kamala, as if temping her to take it’s power. To finally win against her other self and after using the substance previously, Kamala could not help but agree…it would be so easy. All she had to do was touch it and…everything would be alright.

As Kamala started reach out though she remembered what everyone did to get it off her, to save her from this thing’s influence and pulled her hand back while screaming out, “NO!”

With those words, a unibeam lanced out from beyond the flames and struck the V-252, driving it back. It did not realize it reached flames until it was too late and let out an unholy scream as it was consumed.

“That’s right, get lost! Stretch has enough problems without you!” Iron Man stated he flew next her before turning his attention back to Ms. Marvel, raising the palms of his hands to prepare to fire.

“One nightmare down, one to go…unless you want to leave peacefully for a change!” Iron Man stated has his weapons visibly started to power up.

Ms. Marvel got from her chewing up and spitting out looking annoyed and said, “And you think you can do what the Hulk could not? And he had help!”

“Who says he is alone!” the voice of Captain America called out, before Kamala felt her teacher’s hand on her shoulder and looked up to him now standing at her side, while the better half of her just screamed in frustration.

“Why do my heroes keep help the weakling and make me fight them! I’m the one who can make a diff…” Ms. Marvel started rant, but hit with a double repulsor blast from Iron Man, cutting her mid sentence.

“Hulk was right, she does talk too much!” Iron Man stated, before taking to the air and moving in to fight Ms. Marvel, while Cap stood guard over his student.

Ms. Marvel had gone giant, but Iron Man proved hard to hit as he flew about and to make it worse for Ms. Marvel he easily let loose multiple laser, repulsor and missile blasts on the target, forcing her to return to her normal state to heal. Clearly even the ‘perfect’ version of Ms. Marvel still had to follow the same rules the original had to.

Ms. Marvel breathing hard and Iron Man moved in for a flying tackle, getting caught off guard by sudden Embiggened double axe handle strike slamming into him as he got close. The blow smashed him into the ground and with her still enlarged hands, Ms. Marvel grabbed Iron Man and tossed him into the flames.

“Tony!” Kamala screamed out, but was stopped by Captain America who just gave her a reassuring smile while saying, “He is in armor that handle far worse than a little fire Kamala, Tony will be fine.”

“But you won’t!” Ms. Marvel cut in as she planted both hands into the ground and launched herself feet first at Captain America, who raised his shield block the incoming attack. At the same time she tried to snake her arms along the ground to grab Cap by the ankles, but the super soldier brought the shield down on her wrists, making Ms. Marvel scream in pain.

While the now injured heroine tried to revert to her normal state, Captain America delivered a roundhouse kick to head followed by a shield bash to the torso knock Ms. Marvel back. Meanwhile Kamala just looked on in awe, seeing her teacher actually winning and doing what even Hulk did not achieve.

“How…how are you doing this?!” Ms. Marvel demanded, her wrists finally healed and tried punching Captain America with enlarged fists, but could not get past the iconic shield. She tried snaking around it like she had done to Kamala with the energy version, but still her opponent was too experiences and quick to be easily beaten by such tactics. Nothing Ms. Marvel did could get the shield away from the Captain.

“You’re the perfect one…” Captain America stated, while a slightly charred Iron Man flew out of the flames and tackled Ms. Marvel from behind.

“…figure it out!” Iron Man finished, both heroes grappling the polymorph who struggled against their combined might. Despite the double team though, clearly the fight was far from over!

“Stretch…she is still too strong to go down yet!” Iron Man called over while Ms. Marvel started to Embiggen her body to giant mode to break free.

“What do I do then?” Kamala asked, not sure how to help without her powers or at least the emitters she had during the battle with A.I.M.

“”That’s simple solider, take the draw and…” Captain America called out as jumped back from a giant foot nearly stomping down on him, counting with a shield throw that connected with Ms. Marvel’s forehead, making her yell in pain and anger.

“WAKE UP!” Both Iron Man and Captain America called out in unison.

-

Kamala’s eyes shot open, her room still dark…it was 6am, she had gone to bed early because of the chaos of what happened at the expo. She had…actually gotten sleep at long last?

“Please tell me this means I’m getting better and this is not a onetime thing,” Kamala grumbled as she got out of bed, even though training with the real Captain America was canceled because her teacher wanted her to rest after her ordeal with the V-252.

As she made her way to the front room though, she heard familiar sounds of gunfire and slashing strikes…the ‘squad’ was playing without her? That made her a little mad, she had wanted to have a LAN party with them yesterday but the grilling of Amadeus and Riri for their little reveals had the Avengers busy.

Apparently the whole reason for the choice of device for the expo was to get Tony attention so they could show off the real reason they where there in private. They had somehow heard of a new idea the Avengers where considering, the Avengers Intern Program. How Kamala did not know of vexed the brown skinned girl given she was the ultimate superhero fangirl, until she found out it was still in the very early phases of being put in motion.

‘A program meant to help young heroes become heroes and I can’t join because I messed up so much,’ Kamala thought bitterly, though glad at least it meant other teen heroes that where popping up like crazy might have help not making the same mistakes.

As Kamala entered the front room find a different trio playing Warframe: Spider-Man, Amadeus in his Hulk form and Riri, the first two trying to help her get used to the game as she played intro story.

‘What the….’ Kamala thought as watched this only snapping out of it when Spider-Man/Peter waved her over.

“Hey Ms. M, you might want give the rookie tips us vets are terrible at it. Been too long since either me or Cho here needed to use the MK garbage weapons or had such terrible mod selection, you been playing for couple months so you might relate better!” Peter teased, getting a glare from Riri an eye roll from Kamala and laugh from Cho.

“I would be doing better if I did not have the peanut gallery making fun of me!” Riri growled, going back to choosing a weapon while ignoring Peter saying go the Braton and while Cho said the bow, clearly both doing the opposite choice just to make fun the new player.

“Will you clowns just let her pick so she can finish…then we can show her the wonder of mindless grinding!” Kamala finally stated as she went to make some Chai (tea) since this was clearly going to take awhile, making Riri go pale at the word ‘we’.

“Oh god no…you not going to help them torment me are you? I’m only doing this because Cho made a bet his nanites would get us a meeting with the Avengers…I never said I going to become a regular player!” Riri pleaded, praying she was not going to have three people hound her.

“Of course not…I’ll just point out if you forgot to bullet jump…or slide…or land 50 connective headshots!” Kamala teased as she gathered what needed to make Chai. She was nowhere as good as her Ammi at making it, but it still felt good to have something from home.

“NNNNNNOOOOOO!” Riri wined, thinking she was doomed…which was only reinforced as Spider-Man and Amadeus laughed evilly.

-

Meanwhile Nick Fury was looking over the reports with a dark expression on his face…it was time for him to step in if this operation to find the missing Inhumans was to start making progress, so pushed a button on his desk and said, “Play time is over, send me the agent we have been prepping in case this happened!”


	8. Shadows Strike and Thunder’s Wrath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Other then a short encounter with Loki, it was a normal night at Avengers Tower until news of Jersey was in danger makes Kamala trying to escape the tower to save her home, only to be stopped by her friends and forced to go to bed, not knowing this exposed her to a threat.
> 
> Is the threat part of group hunting her or a new danger?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 8 and we got a small shoutout to a Marvel Rising Ultimate Comic/episode (youtube link below) and to issue 2 of S.H.E.I.L.D. 2014-2015 (this was an issue that guest starred Ms. Marvel helping two SHIELD agents on a mission)
> 
> Ms. Marvel vs Loki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoctB_OWYrM
> 
> Please comment or Kudo below, I love to hear what you think.

Chapter 8 - Shadows Strike and Thunder’s Wrath

“Give me that glove!” Loki roared as Kamala ran down the halls of Avengers Tower, Riri flying next to her in an improved version of her old armor, being more sleek and colored pink, black and gold. Tony had helped the girl make a proper suit given how well she did with the reverse engineering that outdate model.

The only reason Loki had not caught up to Kamala was due to Riri, now code named Iron Heart, was firing back with repulsor blasts to slow the Norse God of Mischief down while Kamala kept the item he desired away from him, a golden glove with silver engravings.

The glove was called Jargreir and from what Thor had said when he had come to leave in a secure area of the tower until it could be legally claimed by him for Asgaurd, due to it had the power to let anyone wield his hammer Mjolnir. So of course his evil brother Loki wanted it!

“Amadeus please tell me you thawed Thor out, we can only keep playing keep away for so long!” Iron Heart called into her built in comm. She knew Kamala could only keep running for so long before Loki caught up, even with all of Cap’s training the last few months.

“Got up to the hammer but this stuff is not normal ice Riri…I hate ‘magic’!” Amadeus moaned, trying to free the Avenger who was supposed to be on Ms. Marvel guard duty but Loki’s ambush trapped him in ice when the thunder god was explaining what the glove did and why he was keeping at the tower until Tony could work through the legal details with the museum he had confiscated it from after Loki’s first attempt.

“Just up to the hammer…just great…” Iron Heart grumbled, but hearing this knew made Kamala’s eyes light up and made a turn that would bring them back to the front room where the ambushed had occurred.

“Ms. Marvel why are we heading back to…oh!” Iron Heart started to ask, but then Kamala slipping the glove on. The girl might not have her powers, but she still clearly could think on her feet.

“I don’t know what you mortals are planning but there is no place on Midgard you can hide from me!” Loki roared in furry as he continued to give chase, but as he followed them into the front room only to be tackled into the wall by Amadeus in his Hulk form.

“Foolish creature, you are a pale imitation of the green beast!” Loki growled as he used telekinesis to throw Amadeus off him, not knowing the mini Hulk was only the distraction for the real challenger.

As Amadeus flew across the room, Loki turned to scan the room for the one holding Jargreir only to find it…being used to swing Mjolnir right at his face!

The mystic weapon unleashed a small burst of lighting on impact with Loki’s face, hitting with enough force to knock the Norse god through the wall behind him. He was not knocked out, but was clearly seeing triple given how wobbly he was when trying to stand.

“Should have stayed down…anyone got a problem if I channel my inner V-252 on him?” Kamala joked, making Iron Heart face palm and a disapproving grunt from Thor in his ice prison, Amadeus still recovering from being thrown so did not hear it.

“Wow tough crowd…anyway…have at thee!” Kamala said she let the hammer slide down her palm enough to grab it by the strap and start spinning it like she had Thor do countless times from videos on the internet. As she did so, lighting gathered the more it spun for the soon to come throw.

Loki barely regained his senses when the Inhuman released Mjolnir and it sent him back through the first hole, followed by the sound of several more walls suffering the same fate. Kamala winced at the sound of each crash, knowing Pepper was going to kill her.

Meanwhile the ice began to melt at an unnatural rate, letting Thor break free and stand again. As he walked over to Kamala and looked in the direction of her throw to see she probably got a good eight walls minimum with that attack. Not bad for a first timer.

“I believe this is where I’m supposed to call hacks but I think that is somewhat obvious,” Thor stated as he turned back to look at Kamala, who had already taken Jargreir off and was handing it too him. Clearly the benched hero was not having much luck with external sources of power, first the V-252 and now Jargreir.

“Um…can we blame Amadeus?” Kamala asked sheepishly, making both Riri and Thor laugh while said mini Hulk looked annoyed that was he was getting thrown under the bus.

“See if I do you any favors in the future!” Amadeus said with a huff, as the sound of the quinjet was heard approaching from outside, forgoing the usual landing area to come to the aid of those in the tower after getting the distress signal that the teens had triggered once Thor was frozen.

The other Avengers had left the jet on auto pilot and jumped from the floating vehicles to burst into room in force. It did not take them long though to realize the danger had passed given they could see the holes in the walls.

“Ms. Marvel did it!” Amadeus called out, not letting anyone pretend it was him out of spite for Kamala’s joke, which made the benched hero flinch as the other Avengers looked at her in shock how she had done so much damage, until Tony saw Thor holding the glove but no sign of his signature weapon.

“So…the glove works?” Tony asked the now very pale looking teen who nodded timidly like she was bracing for the yelling to begin.

Tony had a blank look on his face for a moment, before starting to grin and ruffled up Kamala’s hair and say, “Nice work Stretch, Nat go delete the camera footage and if Pepper asks who did it, blame Amadeus since he was the one who tried to throw Ms. Marvel under the bus.”

Amadeus went slacked jawed at this, while Thor and Riri just laughed until Tony spoke up again, “What are you laughing at Jr.? If you did your job right Ms. Marvel would have never needed to use the glove. Ms. Marvel, I put her punishment in your hands…PJs is almost here with dinner so have him and Clint help you. Meanwhile Thor can get that thing and his brother out of my building before ‘Amadeus’ makes a bigger mess…I’ll worry about the legal stuff Thor,” Tony instructed everyone, Riri now going pale knowing what Tony meant by leaving her ‘punishment’ in the hands of Kamala and those other two.

“Please Mr. Stark, anything but that! Make me clean up the mess, heck make clean the whole tower with a toothbrush! Just not that!” Riri pleaded, while Natasha gave the girl a sympathetic pat on the back before going to erase the evidence of Kamala’s part in the mess.

Hulk growled in annoyance, knowing why he was not among those getting to help punish Riri, he had to make sure Amadeus cleaned up ‘his’ mess. It was not fair, but at least he could make sure the mini him suffered for it.

“Change back and get the broom!” Hulk ordered Amadeus, who had to get another loud growl before he finally complied, while Riri continued to plead for mercy. All the while Kamala and Clint started getting the laptops and various control devices.

“Spider-Pizza Man has arrived…what the heck happened here?” Spider-Man called out as he came out the elevator, knowing web swing up to the top the building would be hard with enough pizza to feed so many people. Now that Kamala was eating more regularly and had Cap’s training, she was starting to need the amount of food she had after a light patrol back when she was in Jersey so she alone was major appetite to sate let alone the likes of Hulk or Thor.

“Blame Amadeus and keep Hulk away from mine!” Thor said as he dragged the out cold Loki from the ‘hallway’ Kamala made with Mjolnir. He knew it would take time to make sure both Jargreir and his troublesome brother where secured in Asguard so giving the order for Spider-Man to protect his share of pizza was essential.

“…Kamala did it, didn’t she?” Spider-Man asked, knowing his friend’s current run of luck, getting a laugh from Thor and a motion from Natasha and Steve to zip it, the former walking past Spider-Man to head for the nearest security console for her data purge mission. 

-

An hour later Riri was finally released from her punishment, the task of being forced to do an hour long survival mission. Tony had taken the young girl under his wing, but noted she was not able to relate to most teens due to her intellect and heavy focus on science, so decided as a mentor it would best she learned to socialize more so often found excuses to make her join the ‘squad and/or ‘clan’’ for their sessions. Not that he told her this, often just saying it was a way to punish her for an error she made.

‘I’m an evil genius!’ Tony mentally patted himself on the back, while the black girl sulked on the couch as she ate, finally free of the torment while Hulk took the laptop she had been using so he could login, until Jarvis spoke up from over the building’s speakers.

“Sir I have detected a new report that might be classified as urgent, shall I override the laptop currently linked to the TV to tune in?” Jarvis asked, but before Tony could reply Natasha spoke up first.

“Yes Jarvis please do! Anything to hear something other than that blasted game!” Natasha called out, getting a glare from Kamala since it was her turn to use the big screen, sticking her tongue at the super spy in response.

As the TV switched to a new channel though the room feel silent at the title at the bottom of the screen saying ‘Jersey City Under Siege’ the reporting going how sudden mass violence from gang members and looters.

Before anyone could say anything, Kamala shot up and was darting for the exit to the front room, the teenager hearing Tony yell out for Jarvis to lock down the lockdown the elevator. That would not stop Kamala, she was already heading for the stairs until Black Widow did flip over the teen and landed several feet past her to block her path.

“Kamala you need to calm down…what do you think you’ll do even if you…” Natasha started to say before Kamala just started dashing back the way she came, Amadeus trying to keep his fellow superhero boxed in but was to slow to respond to her faking going right, the pivoting to the left to left to get back into the living room.

Though no amount of faints and mad dashes would save her for long once there, since between Hulk, Steve, Tony and Clint there was no way she could get further then mid way point, before Natasha and Amadeus made sure Kamala was surrounded.

“Take it easy soldier…” Steve tried say, but was cut off from Kamala as tears started flow down her face.

“Why are you stopping me?! They need me and I have been doing everything I need to! What else do I need to do before I can be her again! I know I almost did something bad but…do I have just stand by and watch THAT happen!” Kamala screamed as she pointing at the TV, clearly reach hysterical levels of anger and sadness at seeing her home under attack on such a scale.

“I rather know why you ran back in here; what where you going to do, jump off balcony?” Amadeus asked, still a bit mad he had to clean up Kamala’s mess so was not being a sympathetic as he would normally would be.

“YES!” Kamala screamed in anger, not realizing yet her plan was suicidal right now. Her mind was in purely Ms. Marvel mode, a state she had not been in for months ever since coming to the tower.

Everyone was so stunned by this it gave Kamala the opening she needed to dive past, the only thought in her mind was getting outside and head for home, the home she had left defenseless to this madness!

But Kamala had barely got past the glass doors that lead outside when she felt something wrap around her ankle and she felt herself start to fall face first towards the ground as said ankle was pulled out from under her.

“NO!” Kamala sobbed out as she tried grab one of the doors to keep herself from being dragged back, but force pulling her was too fast. The petite girl looked back to see it was the zip line cable from Natasha’s wrist gauntlets that had caught her and Hulk had grabbed the end to start pulling Kamala back towards the group.

“Please let me go, I need to get home!” the teenager begged as she got within arm’s reach of the waiting heroes, she struggles as Steve wrapped his arms around her, keeping the crying teen from making another dash for the door as the zip line was removed from her ankle.

“Not happening solider, no one here is going let you get yourself killed! How did you plan to survive the fall?” the super solider demanded, finally snapping Kamala out delusional state. Reality was now setting back in, she was just Kamala Khan now, none of Ms. Marvel’s tricks could help her; no Embiggening, no stretching limbs, no healing…none of it was hers to command anymore. There was nothing she could do, no matter how much that part of her wanted out so it could go help the city she called home.

“What is happening in here?” the voice Thor called out, confused at why everyone was gathered around Kamala, until a gesture from Hulk made the thunder god look towards the TV and had him see what the title still on the screen.

For moment Thor could only looked on in shock at was he was seeing, but slowly shock turned anger, lighting crackling from both his hammer and his eyes. Such cowardice will not go unpunished!

“Hulk, Hawkeye I trust you will keep our squad mate safe in my absence!” Thor stated as he turned to leave, his red cape billowing behind him as he marched back outside so he could take to the skies.

As Kamala watched on in stunned silence at Thor’s declaration, Clint leaned in close and said, “Told you your squad’s got your back and he isn’t the only one heading there, did you not notice a certain iron girl and your boyfriend aren’t here either?”

Kamala actually blushed at this while Steve just glared at the archer. Neither teen had discussed the partial confession since the expo, neither really sure how to approach the issue, Peter even more so since Steve had made sure to warn the boy against any ‘funny business’ with his student.

-

“Are you sure we can’t go faster?!” Spider-Man called out as he used a web line to hold on Iron Heart as she flew them both to Jersey as fast as she could.

“Not unless you can make yourself lighter!” Iron Heart called back, wishing she should could go faster but even with Tony’s guidance her armor was still a product of her work rather than a true match for original Iron Man armor. Neither wanted her to copy his work, so while Tony had given her the resources, she did not have direct accesses to his schematics and so the Iron Heart series was up to Riri to develop. This meant she had a ways to go before her armor was on par with Iron Man’s best, though her Mark 2 model was still a very impressive piece of work.

“Sorry that’s a Ms. Marvel ability…here is hoping they calm her down…wait what is that?” Spider-Man called up, looking back see what looked like a lightning bolt coming their way. Both heroes then saw it sore past at insane speed, calling out, “Hurry up you two, there are brigands to smite!”

Both teens blinked behind their mask/helmet, with Spider-Man finally saying, “Oh come on, I did not eat that much pizza so how did he catch up with us!”

Riri meanwhile was wondering if they both needed to go in a diet if Thor could do that…or at least she needed to look into improving the thrusters some more.

-

Meanwhile Jersey’s police were struggling against a group of rioters on Main Street, the point of any of such riots still unknown. All the officers knew for sure was all were heavily armed and ready for the response of law enforcement.

“Sir, if we don’t get help soon they will overwhelm us!” one of the younger officers asked the dark skinned plump officer who had been Ms. Marvel main contact with the police, before she had to leave with the Avengers for her ‘house arrest’.

“There is no one to call rookie, too many of these all over Jersey for there to be officers to spare and our big gun is out of commission,” The veteran officer replied as he ducked incoming fire, wishing the kid was still around. They needed her more than ever, even though he had promised her they would hold down the fort while she was gone.

‘Kid I hope you are not watching this right now,’ The officer thought, as the sound of thunder was starting to be heard and lighting flashed. Clearly the weather was having no mercy on them either…until a thundering voice filled the air around them.

“You will pay villains!” the voice boomed, just before a massive bolt of lightning crashed into the advancing mob of armed rioters, scattering the few that did not get hit by the shockwave that blinded the officers.

When police regained their sight, they were greeted by the sight of Thor, standing over the first of many who he would put down to restore peace to the city Kamala loved.

While the officers looked on in stunned silence at an Avenger of all people coming to their aid, the thunder god called out with voice as loud the thunder its self, “Listen well those who threaten the peace of the city! Ms. Marvel has felt your wrath and for every tear you have made her shed, I will return that pain tenfold!”

As law enforcement tried to shake off this declaration off, Spider-Man and Iron Heart finally arrived, landing next to the Norse god and surveyed the damage. Clearly Thor was not someone you wanted to piss off.

“So…divide and conquer or stick together as a group?” Iron Heart asked, a bit scared of Thor even though this level of power was well within the data she had. Seeing it was just that frightening though.

“Stay with Spider-Man and take the southern half of the city, I’ll shall take the north. Let none escape justice…for Ms. Marvel!” Thor ordered, taking to the skies as he shouted the Ms. Marvel name like it was a battle cry, getting a booyah from Spider-Man as he and Iron Heart began their own hunt for those causing havoc in Jersey.

Meanwhile the officers moved in to arrest the ones knocked out by Thor, with the plump one looking to the night skies with a smile while thinking, ‘You got good friends kid, guess you still have our backs in a way after all.’

-

Back at Avengers Tower, Kamala a tear stained face watched the news as more and more reports of how her friends were stopping the violence all over Jersey, many times calling out it was in her name…most of these being from Thor obviously though Kamala knew Peter’s quips where probably a close second in spreading the message.

It made her love and hate them so much right now, she was grateful for the support but it still reminded her of her failure. One mistake stripped her of the ability to be there in her home’s hour of need, only able to ‘help’ through proxies rather than her own strength. She had created Ms. Marvel to protect her home, to do good, but all she was doing now was making others do it for her!

“It should be me; I can’t keep being a burden!” Kamala whispered, her eyes shut tight and fresh tears starting to coming down her face while the Avengers could only watch the young girl suffer.

“I think this might be a good night hit the sack early Stretch, we’ll get you if anything big happens,” Tony suggest/ordered, getting nods from the others who thought this was the best way to keep the young Inhuman away from what was quickly becoming self torture.

“But…” Kamala started to say, but stopped as Steve actually picked her up bridle style and started walking her out of the room.

“No buts soldier, you are far to stressed right now so some extra rest will do you good!” Steve stated firmly, silencing further protests. He would have rather been supportive, but given how upset and self blaming Kamala was right now, anything other than a firm no would put the current issue to rest for the time being.

-

Back in the front room Amadeus asks, “Okay I got to ask, how long does she need to keep doing this? Yeah she was going to roast Shocker, but she still stood down when ordered and as far as I have heard, it’s not like she got an actual trial or official sentence…so how long is this house arrest supposed to last?”

The Avengers were silent for moment before Tony replied with a sad tone, “Bare minimum we need to get the ones who are behind the missing Inhuman cases, we need at least one of them to admit the battle with Shocker was setup to push Ms. Marvel into a corner…ideally without revealing who she is, though we are expecting guys like the Jersey DA to still be a road block.”

“You got to be kidding...Riri and I looked into the incident before heading to the expo since we knew we would run into Ms. Marvel if we got accepted in the Intern Program and until that night he was neither for nor against her…and he is now one her main roadblock to going home? Why not at least let her hit the streets of New York and at least let her build some good press?” Amadeus continued to question, this time getting Widow’s input on the matter.

“We still need to find those after her before even considering that option Amadeus. Also we need to consider what the like Johan Jameson will say about her. The only reason she has flown under his radar is he is focused in Spider-Man and New York related events. I’d say…we might need to consider talking to her about going public with her identity if capturing those after does not give us a leg up on those in Jersey against Ms. Marvel,” Natasha explained, knowing Kamala needed a advantage on her opposition if she wanted to be Ms. Marvel anywhere, though they knew Jersey was her main goal.

“Don’t know Nat, with one of our big guns calling out the Ms. Marvel name like it’s his new war cry might help her image in Jersey. Got love the irony a lightning bolt is her emblem and the master of lightning and thunder is openly supporting her!” Clint offered, packing the laptops and other items away for later.

“We can worry about any of that later, right now we wait for those three to get back. They might have found out what caused this riot and we can decide if it’s something we need to worry about,” Steve said as he came back into the room after leaving Kamala in her room.

“How is the pipsqueak?” Hulk asked, being mostly keeping an eye on the news while wishing he was there cracking skulls alongside Thor. The only reason he was not was the same reason Amadeus had been told to stay behind, there was enough chaos in Jersey right now and having a Hulk raging around would only add to it.

“I had her take her meds, she should hopefully be resting soon” Steve told the others, none noticing the faint shimmer of a cloaked figure making their way past the front room entrance and towards the bedroom area.

-

Several hours later near midnight, the figure had waited until it knew its target and the bulk of her protectors where asleep before entering her room.

‘What a child!’ the invisible invader thought as it saw the room full superhero merchandise, the invader knew of the fan girl nature of the target but this was just ridicules!

The invisible figure dropped their cloak to reveal a slender built woman in her late teens to early twenties with a bald head and pale skin, cold grayish blue eyes set on her target. Said eyes along with hands started to glow white with light as they reached for where Kamala’s head would be under the blanket, only for it to be tossed aside at the last second to reveal a wide awake Kamala!

The bald woman was shocked just long enough for Kamala to jump from the bed and starts to call out, “Jarvis help I’m being attacked!” before said woman finally lunged at the teen with growl.

“Too late brat, I’ll be done before anyone gets here!” the bald woman yelled out as she lunged at the teenager who was trying to run for the door, trying to figure out how the how the drugged girl was awake! She had waited long enough to be sure her target was out cold unless she had an intense nightmare!

What Kamala’s attacker did not know was the young Inhuman had only pretended to swallow the pills and spat them out after Steve left, she wanted to be awake. Not just for when Thor, Peter and Riri came back but because she wanted to feel the pain and helplessness her failure was causing her. If Kamala was going fail her duty as Jersey’s protector then she would feel that pain rather sleep like baby while its people suffered!

This also made Kamala very pissed to the point that she was ready for the tackle and actually managed to use some of the judo Natasha had been teaching her to redirect her attacker toward the door and send the woman smashing through it!

The unknown woman managed to catch herself as she came towards the wall opposite of Kamala’s doorway, so she easily got out of the way of the right cross Kamala tried to deliver while charging forward towards her opponent. Kamala was still only using the punching bag so without actual practice in a fight, she was resorting to a rather sloppy approach to combat, this gave the bald woman plenty of chances to recover and let her hands and eyes glow again.

“You got a lot to learn about fight without your powers brat!” the woman stated as she slide behind Kamala while she was off balance from her punch to the wall, the bald woman grabbed the young girl’s head both hands and soon even Kamala’s eyes began to glow white as well.

“N-n-no…stop! Kamala screamed out she tried to pry the woman’s hands from her head but seemed to be growing weaker with every second. By the time both of their eyes stopped glowing, a familiar patriotic shield struck the bald woman upside the head and knocked her away from Kamala.

“Get away from her!” Steve growled, flanked by Natasha and Clink. As Natasha charged in to stand guard over Kamala, Clint had already fired a net arrow at the unknown foe and as it bust to capture its target, it also delivered a strong electric pulse that made sure that target was knocked out.

“You okay Kamala?” Widow asked, noting the teenager was looking rather woozy. The only response was a dazed, “I hate this part” The teen promptly passed out as Natasha caught the girl, looking both concerned and confused as she looked back at the mysteries invader in their home/base.

“Where is she?! Let me at her!” Hulk roared as he charged up, being the farthest away room wise and was only stopped from crushing Kamala’s attacker was Tony calling out over the intercom.

“Target is already down big guy and we need her in one piece, already contacted S.H.E.I.L.D. for pickup, that should get Fury off our back about not making any progress on the Inhuman case and maybe we can start getting the kid’s life back in order!” Tony stated, being still in his lab during the alert. He had been getting suited up for pursuit, just in case who ever this was got away from the others so being in his lab let him do both get ready while watching the cameras.

“I can handle the integration Tony, there was no need to…” Natasha started to say but was cut off by Tony.

“Fury has been after the kid since the Expo Nat, he did not like her ‘breaking her leash’ even if it was under the influence of the V-252, he felt there was little too much room for error who was in control that early on. We need to give him something and given this lady came after Stretch its likely she is one of our targets or at least close enough I can get some negation room again,” Tony explained, making the Black Widow back down, but the the worry in her was growing. She had not heard anything from Fury in awhile and she was the S.H.E.I.L.D. agent on the team!

“Did I miss…guess I did if big me is not doing anything” a transformed Amadeus asked as he saw the Hulk take Kamala from Natasha and walk down the hall, most likely to the medical bay to make sure the girl was alright.

“Be faster next time kid if you ever want the Hulk name!” Hulk stated gruffly, though was internally tearing himself a new one for not being here sooner. Thor was going to be pissed since he had told them to watch over their squad mate while he cleaned up the mess in Jersey.

-

An hour later the bald headed woman woke up a dark room with a strange device strapped her neck and restrained in a chair, the only other person in the room being a familiar bald black man with an eye patch, Nick Fury!

“W-Where am I Mr. Fu…” the woman started to say, but was cut off by the harsh tone of Fury.

“That is Director to you! And the only one answering questions will be you…now tell me what the hell do you think you’ve been doing?!” Fury demanded from the young woman, who was cowering in fear at the man’s anger.

“I’ve been doing what I thought I was supposed to do!” The woman responded in confusion, getting just strong glare from Fury, who held a small device with a red button and pressed it. Instantly the woman screamed in pain and she was shocked by the collar, only stop after several long seconds.

“Wrong answer…Ms. Khan! But I’ll help you out by saying what you have been doing, since you seem to be just that ignorant on matters. You have been wasting my time! The deal with the Avengers was to use you to lure the only known connections to the Inhuman kidnappers outs of hiding, but all I have seen is you going on a couple of dates as far as I’m concerned…and causing a commotion during one of them! The fun and games ends now!” Fury stated coldly, while Kamala caught her breath from the shocking.

“But those weren’t dates…Spidey was my protection if they showed themselves without looking out of place,” Kamala explained as best she could through the fear and pain, but was only shocked again for it.

“Your ignorance is truly astounding Ms. Khan…fortunately for you I have already begun cleaning up the mess you made. By this time tomorrow the Avengers will have washed their hands of you once my agent in your body is done. Your time playhouse house with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is over…soon your new ‘home’ will probably be the Cellar until the investigation is done. If you’re lucky, I might still reoffer that one way trip to Karachi once this is all over!” Fury stated as he left, triggering the collar as he did so and cutting off any comments Kamala could make before he could exit the room.

Upon exiting the integration room, Fury looked to the two guards and ordered, “Take the prisoner to a cell; I’ll have more questions for her later on. She is a suspected mind swapper but the collar should prevent that, just don’t trust anything she says!”

The guards saluted and moved into grab Kamala while she was still recovering from her shocking.

As they dragged her away, Kamala weakly begged to be allowed to contact the Avengers, that she was Ms. Marvel, not knowing the orders they had been given. Though while the guards might have ignored what the mind swapped teen said two other agents passing by did take note.

“Coulson…wasn't that the rookie we brought in a few months back?” one of the pair asked, a woman known as Jemma Simmons. Both Jemma and her superior Phil Coulson coming back from a mission to the Helicarrier for a debriefing about another dead end looking into the missing Inhuman investigation.

“Yeah…a mind swapper given the code name Mindjack from what I recall…and if I’m right I think Fury is trying to shake up the investigation. You never heard what you just heard agent, got it?” Phil ordered, getting a timid nod from his subordinate and told to go get dinner while he filed the report.

Once Agent Simmons was gone though, Coulson took out his cell and did something he thought he would never do, go behind Fury’s back.

‘Don’t worry kid, if that is you then help will be on the way…I might not have succeeded in keeping your world getting too big too fast but I will not let it fall apart on you!’

-

Meanwhile Mindjack was waking up in the medical room of Avengers Tower with a groan, hating how interruptions near the end of her mind swapping always makes her pass out. It was bad enough the process left both her and her target physical drained without interference!

‘Fury better be making me a full agent after this! I’m picking a fight with the fucking Avengers!’ Mindjack thought as she climbs out of the medical bed and made her way to Stark’s lab. The key to Fury’s plan was there, the V-252!

The plan was on paper was sound, have ‘Ms. Marvel’ take the substance back out of a craving for the power despite rejecting it previously. The timing of the riots in Jersey would only make the action all the more plausible. The main trick was getting it before anyone noticed and causing as much damage as possible, ideally outside in full view of New York City, thus destroying any chance of Ms. Marvel salvaging her reputation with the Avengers.

‘So much for Ms. Marvel getting back to her precious Jersey, she will be lucky if any place in America will accept her after I’m done!’ Mindjack thought as she came to the lab and listened for noise, it sounded silent so hopefully Stark was at last in bed.

Entering the lab, Mindjack easily found what she was after, Tony Stark had it in containment device on the far wall, the black substance seeming to sense her presence and tried to bang against the glass surface but was shocked when doing so. Clearly Tony was making sure the V-252 did not try to force its way out this time, even if it did need the glass to be weakened the previous time.

Looking around the S.H.E.I.L.D. Agent found something familiar device on one of the work benches, a shield emitter much like she saw on Kamala night stand when Mindjack had tried swapping minds the first time. The teenager had been in such a rush to defend herself she never had a chance to equip it, something Mindjack was grateful for.

‘This must be the ‘attack’ version she used during the Bilderberg operation; that should do for breaking the security glass,’ Mindjack thought as she took the device and messed with the settings. Unlike Kamala, Mindjack could actually use the device in default mode without risking injury so the lockdown was unneeded and she needed something that would break the glass without risking destroying the V-252.

A second later, the shield sprung to life and the body snatcher was about to throw it when her training kicked in and spun around to use the shield to block a shock stick strike from Black Widow.

“Fifteen seconds max…all I needed was fifteen fucking seconds!” Mindjack growled in annoyance, knowing a fight in even her normal body would be pointless when up against the Black Widow let alone in a washed up teen superhero’s under trained body with no powers!

“I won’t let you get half that time!” Black Widow stated icily, sending a low kick to the back of the left knee of Kamala’s body while pushing forward, sending Mindjack falling on her back and was quickly pinned with just a single foot to the chest by the boot of the veteran spy.

“I rather not do anymore damage then necessary…surrender before I make this really hurt!” Black Widow ordered night sticks crackling with electricity and pressing down with a little more force to start causing pain.

“Yeah I’ll get right on that!” Mindjack said growled back, angling the emitter to fire a blast at the V-252’s chamber, shattering the security glass with ease and free the black ooze!

As the substance dove out, Balck Widow dove away not wanting to risk getting attached to alien life form, but Mindjack just laughed.

“That’s right, come on home!” the fake Kamala called out with an evil smirk, thinking this was actually working out rather well. This way Mindjack could lay it on real thick how ‘corrupt’ the Avenger’s little pet project had become.

As the substance the Symbiote started cover her though, Mindjack noted it stopped abruptly and then jumped away, making a ‘mouth’ with gooey fang like teeth like it was hissing at her. What was going on?

“Stupid gunk, get back here!” Mindjack growled, knowing the only way to win this fight was with the V-252 but was stopped by a Widow Bite shot from Black Widow’s gauntlet, the electricity coursing through the stolen teen’s body.

The V-252 meanwhile moving towards Black Widow, but was stopped by an arrow that exploded into an ice like substance that froze the slime in its tracks.

“That will be enough out of you two…quinjet is away Nat, Tony said he already contacted Thor and boy did Tony make it sound like Thor was pissed…and Webs was probably not much better I bet,” Hawkeye called out from the doorway, making Mindjack look up in surprise after her shocking from the Widow’s Bite wore off.

“W-w-wait…why are only you two here? Where are the others…” the fake Kamala started to say, when Amadeus came around the corner with his arms full of protein powered and food products.

“Got all the stuff you suggested Black Widow…how will this stuff help us make her talk?” the mini Hulk asked, confused at his role in the planned integration.

“Oh we are not going to make her talk Amadeus, we just need her to willingly undo the damage she caused once the others get back with the real Ms. Marvel. To do that I’m willing to use her own healing factor to do it…but that drains her pretty bad if used too much so some extra calories might be in order…along with ‘special’ ingredients for the protein shakes!” Black Widow stated, getting the desired reaction from Mindjack, the look of horror that her mission was failing.

“I’m right here so what do you…” the fake started say but was cut off by a furious Hawkeye who drew another arrow from his quiver and aimed it right at Mindjack.

“Don’t you dare say you are her! The kid has been going through hell and you dare try and make it worse? Nat knew something was up the second you said ‘I hate this part’ plus all the stuff about Fury riding Tony in private rather than me or Natasha! For once Fury was pretty sloppy if even I noticed something was wrong so early on in the plan!” Hawkeye bluffed, true Natasha was thinking something was off by the comment, but the real tipoff was the text from Phil and that just let an off comment slide into place for Natasha and have her watching the fake for the last hour cloaked. All the while the other Avengers stayed on standby to head out once the fake made her move.

‘I blew it that bad? Fury is going to fucking kill me!’ Mindjack thought, quickly looking to the emitter with the hopes of blasting her way out of the tower. The plan was quickly stopped Hawkeye letting loose his arrow that exploded into as sticky goop that pinned the arm to the ground and covered the weapon.

Mindjack looked up in horror, her only plan left ruined before it could used and the Black Widow, Hawkeye and Amadeus advancing on her with their supplies. The rookie agent knew torture was about to begin and the worse part it was being done by Natasha Romanov, one of the best S.H.E.I.L.D. had at the subject.

-

Back on the Helicarrier, Kamala was laying on the cold metal ground of her cell sobbing and begging for someone to believe who she was, despite no guards being nearby to hear it. The only company she had was the humming of the blue energy barrier that kept her trapped in the tiny room.

She had long confirmed she was in a different body once she saw her pale hands and felt the lack of hair on her head, she was in her attacker’s body and the fake was ruining what was left of her life. Her happy little dream of living alongside the Avengers, ‘playing house’ Director Fury called it…he was right…she was not a part of the team or one of the new Interns, she was supposed to be a resource…once the mission was over so was her time there even without Fury’s intervention.

“I just wish the dream did not end in a nightmare…why do I always have things end in nightmares?” Kamala whimpered as she curled up into a ball, she kept cry for who knows how long before she felt everything begin to shake and alarms start going off.

“W-what?” Kamala asked through her tears, before the sound of thunder drowned out even the alarms and more shaking soon following. Thunder…like Thor’s? Could he be here? For her?

-

Outside Thor poured his entire wrath and furry into the storm he was summoning to punish those who had dared take his comrade. To Thor the source of the conflict meant nothing, whether it’s in the real world stopping Loki from claiming Mjolnir or the digital one in their gaming sessions, Kamala had fought by his side and any who dare raise arms against her might as well done so against Thor himself!

The only reason the Helicarrier still stayed aloft was the danger of harming both Kamala and the innocent people in the city below. This show of force was mainly a way to keep S.H.E.I.L.D. from counter attacking as the other breached the outer defenses.

‘Consider yourself lucky Fury, for if I was in there, you would be facing full power of the son of Odin!’ Thor roared mentally, calling forth more rain wind and lightning until a beam of red light struck him from behind and Thor turned to see Captain Marvel floating behind him, her hands glowing with energy.

“Stand down Thor! I don’t know what this is about but, this needs to end before someone gets hurt!” Captain Marvel ordered, but was forced back by Thor charging forward with a swing of his hammer.

“Someone already has been harmed and if it where anyone else you be joining us in saving her!” Thor roared as he continued to swing his mighty hammer at his foe. Though his lightning was considered magic and not the best type of energy for older Marvel to absorb, Thor felt it best to keep things physical for the time being.

“Her who?! I don’t speak crazy!” Captain Marvel demanded as she grabbed the hand hold the hammer by wrist while using other to punch, but Thor caught in the palm his own. Both now in a contest of strength neither was willing to give up on.

-

Inside the Helicarrier Hulk led the charge down the halls toward the holding cells once they had landed the quinjet on floating stronghold of S.H.E.I.L.D., Iron Man and Iron Heart flanked him so could back him up with over the shoulder shots or clear out connecting hallways as they come along. Captain America and Spider-Man covered the rear though most had been taken out by Hulk so rarely did either get a chance to do anything for the time being.

They were almost to the holding area when they finally came across Fury and small squad of troops blocking the final stretch. The Hulk was looking pleased as he began cracking his knuckles while Iron Man called out to the head of S.H.E.I.L.D.

“Fury if you know what good for you, you’ll give us the kid back or we will show you what happens when you cross the Avengers!” Iron Man sated firmly, knowing Fury would not make this easy but was obligated to give the man a chance to end this here and now.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Stark, all I’m seeing are Earth’s mightiest heroes launching an unprovoked attack on my…” Fury started to say, when Iron Man stepped past Hulk and projected an image of Mindjack’s agent profile into the air and make Fury grit his teeth in anger. He thought he had purged all of those just so Stark could not pull this stunt.

“Want to rephrase that Fury? Doubt Stretch would keep her mouth shut about being in the wrong body!” Iron stated coldly, turning off the projection but just Fury was about to finally reply, a familiar red light came flying down the hall and stop just short of the Avengers, revealing Captain Marvel.

“Danvers, your timing is impeccable! We could use an assist to sort out this mess!” Fury said as he felt a bit more control over the situation now that he had a big gun of his own. He had no doubt Stark would try to convince her to switch sides, but given Carol’s current uncertainty towards the girl who had stolen her old name, he had no doubt Captain Marvel would at least force both sides into a stalemate. Fury could work that over a total loss.

“That’s why I’m here Fury…just giving my backup time to arrive,” Captain Marvel said with a smirk, confusing everyone since the blonde hero often preferred to work alone. Who could her backup be? This question was answered as the space behind Fury and his troops had large figure coming crashing through the ceiling, an electric aura still surrounding him and his mighty weapon crackling with power from the storm outside.

“Ah there he is, fashionably late as always Thor…now someone please point us to the name pirate before the big guy bring that storm outside in here!” Captain Marvel stated with a big grin on her face, loving the look of shock both sides’ faces. No one expected the blonde to team up with the Avengers mid battle, though Thor in his anger was bit over sharing on secrets Fury had been making sure to keep from Carol. The older Marvel felt the fan girl had earned a little bit idol backup.

-

Kamala heard a loud crashing sound only minutes ago before the sound of many footsteps seemed to be growing closer to her cell, at first goring more terrified at the sight of Fury, but as she tried to crawl away to the back wall, the sight of the Avengers came into view.

“Please help…its…” Kamala started say through sobs but was silenced by a furious looking Thor stepping forward before Fury could reach the control panel and struck the barrier with Mjolnir and it caused the circuitry connected to it to short out with ease, allowing the thunder god to enter the cell while Kamala felt very scared thinking he was going to hurt her. That she was the one who attacked the real Kamala!

“Thor please…it’s…” Kamala started say as she raised her hands and shut her eyes in reflex to protect herself but felt them pushed aside with ease and then seconds later, a loud sound of crunching metal and the feeling of the devise around neck disappearing.

Kamala then felt herself getting pickup and she finally opened her eyes to see Thor holding her in one arm while keeping Mjolnir ready with free hand.

“It is alright Ms. Marvel, we are here to bring you home and on my honor this will not be allowed to happen again!” Thor assured his young friend, then shooting Fury a warning glare, though the one eyed man shrugged it off.

As the team left Fury called out, “I expecting my agent back Stark since you got your little mascot!”

“Oh you’ll get her back though you do know now when it comes to the kid, we get to call the shots from now on. We played by your rules and you still took her, so that is going make some changes to the deal…I’ll be in touch soon!” Iron Man called back, though both men knew neither was going to make it that simple. Both groups needed each other, so the ball was always changing who’s court it was in, just now both sides would be out to win for the next little while.

-

Back at the tower, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Amadeus stood guard over their prisoner in the hanger bay, waiting for the return of the quinjet while Mindjack still tried spitting out the taste of the foul things they used for the protein shakes needed to fuel the Ms. Marvel healing factor.

“I thought you guys liked the brat, yet between the damage you inflicted and the shakes I would have assumed you despised her!” the exhausted Mindjack moaned, getting a smack to the back of the head from Amadeus.

“No talking or I’ll break your real body’s knee caps!” the mini hulk growled, getting a smirk from Hawkeye and a nod of approval from Black Widow just as the hanger doors opened for the quinjet’s landing.

The trio had been surprised the one taking point down the ramp was Captain Marvel and while Thor flanked her with Kamala in her ‘loaned’ body. Thor set Kamala down in front of Mindjack while Captain Marvel’s hands started glowing.

“We got a keyword or something the kid can share we are sure she is back in the right body?” Captain Marvel asked as she waited for the transfer of minds. They needed something S.H.E.I.L.D. would not have thought of if they wanted to be sure.

“I got one!” Hawkeye said with a smirk and getting wary looks from most there but he assured them it would work and whispered something into Kamala’s ear who’s eyes widened in terror.

“Please…anything but that!” Kamala pleaded, but Clint gave the signal for Mindjack to do her thing by deactivating the nullifier so she could access the ‘return’ half of her powers. Mindjack wasted no time doing so because wanted out of here as soon as possible, the Avengers where bloody insane!

After the same process that was used to cause the switch was repeated, a woozy Kamala whimpered out, “Please don’t make me say it!”

Everyone tensed at this, Widow making it clear she was getting the Widow Bite ready to fire and making Kamala know she needed to do something or pain would soon follow.

“I…I want my Widow Ammi!” Kamala cried out, making Widow lower her gauntlet in shock, before glaring at Hawkeye for telling Kamala to say that just to prove she was!

“What the fuck is an Ammi?” Mindjack asked, getting punched by Captain Marvel so she would not have to listen to the woman while flew her back to Fury since the Avengers had the more important task of guarding Kamala. She was only one besides Spider-Man who was not an Avenger or Avenger Intern and no one wanted Fury being too close to boy right now, it made more sense for Captain Marvel to drop the agent off.

“Thank you Captain Marvel for your assistance, if you excuse me I’ll take Kamala to her room to rest, it’s been a long night for all,” Thor said cordially, before heading out the hanger bay the other Avengers following soon after with the acceptation Captain America and Iron Man.

“So…how much did Thor say while you two where fighting?” Iron Man asked, not liking Thor spilled any secrets but it did at least get them a key ally during the rescue operation.

“Enough to know the kid has been dealt a bad hand…when you find them give me a call, if the little Marvel can’t be there you might as well have the bigger one to be a proxy for her,” Captain Marvel offered, getting Captain America looking to Iron Man who nodded in agreement.

“Sounds like a plan Danvers, we will see you then,” Captain America said as the two captains shook hands and the woman flew off with the S.H.E.I.L.D. agent before Fury started raising a fuss.

-

Kamala opened her eyes to the sounds of fire and her parents disproving voices but this time the third voice was even more feral then usual as Kamala looked up see the giant hand grab her and start squeezing.

“You…you nearly killed me for good this time! You nearly lost my body!” Ms. Marvel screamed, just before slamming Kamala into the ground and making her start have trouble breathing from what she thought was a few broken ribs.

“I-I…I t-t-t-tried…to f-f-fight back!” Kamala barely managed to get out, but was kicked in the side by Ms. Marvel for efforts, making Kamala scream in pain despite the trouble breathing.

“All you do is try! Start succeeding and maybe…” Ms. Marvel started to yell at the injured teen, but was stopped by the sounds of thunder and lightning.

“Enough!” The voice of Thor commanded, just before a massive lightning bolt struck Ms. Marvel, followed by Mjolnir coming out from the wall of flames that always surrounded the pair during the nightmare battles and knocked Ms. Marvel away from Kamala.

Thor shortly afterwards stepped through the flames like they were not even there, removing his red cape and draping it over Kamala like a blanket. His expression was serious until he looked down at his young comrade and smiled gently before saying, “Have no fear Kamala, I will ensure this night’s rest in complete. You have earned it after all this evening’s tribulations.”

Thor then turned back to his foe, recalling his weapon to his hand while Ms. Marvel got back to her feet.

“The Hulk could not stop me with Hawkeye’s help, what makes you think will do any better alone!” Ms. Marvel growled, trying to Embiggen to her giant size but Thor simply countered by summoning another lightning bolt, neutralizing her powers and dealing a massive amount of damage at the same time.

“I believe the Hulk could not do that!” Thor countered as he marched up to Ms. Marvel and backhanded her so hard she clearly was seeing stars while Kamala realized what Thor meant. He was the one Avenger who could rival the Hulk in strength that was true, but there was one thing no other was more gifted in taking advantage of Ms. Marvel weakness to electricity!

“N-not even you can destroy me…only she can…and she will always be too weak to do it!” Ms. Marvel managed to get out as Thor started spin Mjolnir overhead, preparing to call forth one final blast to end this battle. For the first time ever, Ms. Marvel showed fear to any opponent she had fought in Kamala’s dreams! 

“Maybe I can not destroy you…but she will now know you can be defeated and with that…she will find her own path to victory! Now be gone!” Thor roared out as the most powerful burst lighting so far came crashing down and made Ms. Marvel scream in pain and terror, nothing there one the blinding light faded.

“As I said friend Kamala, you shall rest tonight…sleep well!” Thor said with a final smile as all nothing but blackness consumed Kamala vision.

-

In the real world Kamala mumbled words ‘Thank you’ as she clutched the red cap of Thor as her blanket, said god asleep beside her bed in her computer chair. He had intended to stand guard over her but even he needed rest after the battles in Jersey and against S.H.E.I.L.D. though more due to the constant use of his power over any actual injuries. Captain Marvel had been the only one to actually be a threat to him but their fight was far too short for either to do notable damage.

-

Meanwhile a young man slowly woke in a hospital bed in Jersey whispered the name Kamala. Aamir Khan was finally awake…and while he was doing this another member of the Khan family was setting down at an airport in Jersey all the way of Karachi. Both would be wanting seek out young girl very soon!


	9. Family and the Challenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning after her rescue from S.H.E.I.L.D. Kamala gets news of both growing support for her in Jersey and that her brother has finally awoken from his coma. Said brother wants to see Ms. Marvel, but this leads to revelations that will shake Kamala to her core.
> 
> All the while, an old foe makes a move against the heroine and it feels like repeat of that night from all those months ago!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 9, one of the chapters I really wanted to write :) Please let me know what you think and kudo if possible

Chapter 9 – Family and the Challenge

Kamala was gently shaken from her slumber by Steve, while Thor yawned from his placed in the computer chair, making Kamala groan tiredly.

“Not sure if I’ll be any good at training today Cap…even if last night proved I need it!” Kamala wined as she fought to move her tired and achy body. The emotional drain was not helping but having Natasha go to town on Mindjack using her healing factor to ‘be creative’ was not helping the teen’s energy levels.

“No training today soldier, just waking you and your bodyguard breakfast and then you can focus on bed rest for today. I think we might need to start working on practical applications of what you have been doing though, but we can discuss that this evening at dinner if you’re feeling better,” Steve assured the young heroine, knowing there was no way even with a healing factor the young girl would be physically or mentally ready for a workout.

“Forget bed rest Captain, just get some pillows and a blanket for the couch and her squad will lead her to glories victory across the star chart!” Thor stated as he got up, getting a perked up Kamala and eye rolls from Steve.

“Let’s worry about breakfast, then about your gaming addictions!” Steve said with a smirk, knowing Thor was most likely trying to boost Kamala’s moral after the previous day. Between the riots in Jersey and getting taken by S.H.E.I.L.D. there was no doubt Kamala’s spirits where at an all time low. Fortunately Steve already had some ways to help that along once he got Kamala to the front room for breakfast.

Upon entering the living room Kamala was getting her plate when she looked up to see the news was on…the title at the bottom was once again about Jersey so she was bracing herself as she sat down to eat though stopped from having her first bite when heard the announcer speak.

“Last night was one Jersey would never forget, starting from the still mysteries reason for why so many gangs and looters sprung up all over the city at the same time to cause a mass riot, only to be stopped by Thor of the Avengers and two young heroes Spider-Man and Iron Heart. All three heroes often called out their actions were in support Jersey’s former vigilante Ms. Marvel who was forced to step down from her role due to an emotional breakdown after a battle with the villain known as Shocker and was taken in by the Avengers to receive treatment. Such actions have cause many in Jersey to finally wanting to know Ms. Marvel current status and what are the exact charges laid against her” the Announcer stated, before switching to the police chief she had spoken to alongside the DA the night she agreed to leave with the Avengers.

“Ms. Marvel actually was never formally charged, as she did cease her threatening actions when warned by the officers on the scene and they had mainly intended for her to come in so we could confirm what had caused her to act in such a way and then decide what to do from there. It is our assumption she must have thought they were making a formal arrest and in her unstable state got scared and ran like any frightened young woman might have done. Her current ‘house arrest’ under the watch of the Avengers is actually more for her protection then a punishment though there are clear restriction on placed on her such as the limiting of her powers, the handing over her costume and of course receiving help on the source of her breakdown. Further information is not available due to Ms. Marvel actually being seen as a both witness and victim of a greater crime.” The Police Chief explained, making Kamala eyes widen in shock…she was not a criminal? But then why the nullifier or take her costume? Though given the state of costume when handing it over, it was hardly fit for further use and she was pretty sure her spare was back at the Circle Q, assuming Bruno had not destroyed it since he was done with that half of her. Though she could have sworn she had it in her closet, but did not find it when packing to runaway.

“You where hardly in any state to be a hero Stretch and it keeps you out of the reach of those after you…plus S.H.E.I.L.D. or at least Fury can be a jackass when offering help in protecting from more zealous people like the DA who I assure you did want you arrested,” Tony said from beside Kamala, knowing she was going to soon look to one of them for answers.

‘So S.H.E.I.L.D. is still my main obstacle to becoming Ms. Marvel again…is my only hope the finding of the missing Inhumans? Or will they want something more?’ Kamala thought as the screen switching to a more shocking image, protests with signs saying things like ‘Free Ms. Marvel!’ or ‘Return our hero!’ Soon the screen focused on a specific protester, Nikia!

“This is unacceptable! We needed Ms. Marvel more than ever last night and while we did get help from those who support her, the very words of Thor himself called out to those he stopped said she cried at not being able to be here to help us! If she is not a criminal then let her come home!” Nikia demanded as fellow protesters cheered on, making tears come to Kamala’s face at hearing at least one of her friends had not rejected her and was even fighting for her!

As Kamala did this, the other Avengers thought back to what Tony had said that Kamala might need to go public to regain support in Jersey, but it clearly all it took was just the right person knowing and from there let that person stoke fire. Probably helped Thor’s overzealous shouting the girl’s code name laid the ground work in the minds of the people of Jersey. 

The adults were about to encourage the girl to eat her breakfast before it got cold, when the announcer returned to the screen again with the title showing ‘urgent update’.

“This just in, Aamir Khan has been reported to have regain consciousness and has been requesting to see Ms. Marvel on the matter his family approached her just before being attacked. We can only assume he is referring to his missing sister Kamala Khan who ran away from home several weeks prior.” This announcement almost made Kamala spring to her feet but was stopped by Tony and Steven so avoid the plate on her lap from hitting the ground and risk Kamala stepping on the glass.

“I’ll go prep the quinjet, you guys make her eat!” Clint called out casually, knowing his squad mate was going to want to see her brother. Not that being called out like that made avoiding the meeting possible, not if Ms. Marvel wanted to keep her growing support back home…not that he thought Kamala thought that way but the veteran hero knew it that could be an outcome if nerves got the better of the teen hero.

As Kamala looked down at her plate though she remembered what happened the last time she wore normal clothes with only her mask in public and someone she knew saw her. She was going to need that tattered mess of costume if she did not want Aamir to figure out who she was.

“Um…any chance I could have my Ms. Marvel stuff back for just the visit? Last time…” Kamala started to ask, but a familiar voice cut her off as said person entered the room.

“You will not be going out in those rags young lady!” Pepper stated firmly, making Kamala, Tony and Steve flinch. Though in the case of Kamala it was the ‘Pretend Ammi’ thing starting to kick in, but for other two it was due to them knowing that the other woman of the house going to step in at last.

“That is enough Potts! You might be trying to help but it’s clearly just messing with Kam’s head! After last night’s chaos she does not need you pretending to be her mother!” Natasha stated as she stormed over to the other redhead and got right in her face, both women glaring at each other.

As tension kept building, Tony said the one that he felt would put a stop to the soon to come battle of two women, “Don’t make me unlock the kid and have her separate you two!”

“Please unlock me! Please unlock me!” Kamala begged due to the scene freaking her out, while Natasha just raised an eyebrow at this and Pepper glared at Tony.

“Are you trying to get her into more trouble with S.H.E.I.L.D.? You know they are…” Pepper started to say, knowing originally the government agency had the ability to monitor the nullifier, though no one had told Kamala this to avoid scaring her.

“They are not an issue Pepper, not after last night…frankly once the replacement is ready, pretty sure Stretch will be feeling a lot better about her ‘leash’ and you two won’t be able to kill each other either,” Tony replied casually, helping lightening the mood by throwing off the previous ‘conversation’ with his actions.

This had everyone but Steve confused, since Tony had told him about what the inventor had planned now that the deal with S.H.E.I.L.D. was in shambles. It was the second bit of news he and Tony had planned to lift Kamala’s spirits, the first being the event on the morning news.

Before anyone could say anything further though, Thor flicked Kamala in the back of the head and then pointed her food, which had her finally start to eat while Natasha asked, “So you actually going with the first model then?”

Tony only nodded while Kamala look more confused but kept eating knowing they would not let her leave until breakfast was done, though Steve kept giving her a knowing smirk that made her want to know what was going on.

“The first model…but that…” Pepper started to say, but was stopped by a glare from Natasha who cut her off by saying, “She has earned it Potts!”

Before round two could start though, Kamala picked up her plate and put it in the sink, before turning back to ask again, “So…can I have my costume back for the meeting? I know it’s trashed but I’m worried Aamir will recognize me like Nikia did if I go dressed in something Kamala Khan would wear.”

“Not happening Solider, if you had a spare you could use then I would not see a problem, but having Ms. Marvel make her first more welcome appearance in Jersey is a badly damaged costume might send the wrong message,” Steve told his student, who looked nervous at her only idea of hiding who she was from her brother get shot down.

“I might be able to help Stretch, had a bit present for you since got so attached to that t-shirt the Sheikh gave you…you happen to have pair of red sweat pants or something along those lines?” Tony asked, getting as confused look from Kamala who nodded dumbly at the question trying to figure what Tony had in mind.

-

It was late morning when the quinjet arrived over the Jersey Central hospital, protesters clearly having guessed this would happen and had gathered near the building once the news report about Aamir Khan’s request had spread. The crowed was held back the police, though it seemed mostly peaceful in attitude just vocal in their support of Ms. Marvel.

Thor jumped from the back of quinjet with Kamala in his arms, wearing the Avenger jacket from expo to hide Tony’s present even it was rather simple one. It had been something he had made to help her feel better after her encounter with the V-252 incident but he had only just got this morning, a good bit of timing since she did not have backup costume to use and this new shirt made for a good stand in along with the red sweat pants.

In Kamala’s arms was the still unopened package her parents had given Ms. Marvel for is she found their daughter, she never found the courage to open it. It felt right to give to Aamir since Kamala knew if she ever found out what was inside, it would be when she could face him without the mask hiding who she was.

“Ready to give your fans a show?” Thor joked, knowing was simple thing but both Steve and Tony thought it would be good way to show Jersey Ms. Marvel was doing better, even if the girl herself was uncertain of that fact.

“Taking off a jacket…what an unheard of thing,” Kamala replied weakly with a faint smile, appreciating the idea but doubt it sent much of a message, but put the package down so she take off the jacket and revealing the bright blue t-shirt with a lightning bolt and yellow lining the hem and at the end of the sleeves. It felt like stand in for the blue burkini she wore as Ms. Marvel, which gave Kamala mixed feels yet still provided a sense of being…more whole again.

Thor then took out a second gift Tony had made for Kamala, a red scarf like the one she wore as Ms. Marvel though unlike her previous one that had a bright yellow lining on the edges. Though unlike the t-shirt Tony had said the scarf had been treated with the same polymer as her costume, saying it was something Kamala could use when she was ready to go back to the superhero life.

‘Why all of a sudden? Are they preparing me…to leave? Are they getting closer to ending the case and have not told me?’ Kamala thought she finished putting the scarf on, the crowd actually cheering like she had made a grand return, though Kamala did guess she did look more like the Ms. Marvel they remembered when she was dressed like this, just replace plain black runners with some blue boots and it would be an almost perfect make shift costume.

Kamala timidly waved to the crowd, seeing Nikia at the forefront of mass of people and waved back as best she could. It gave Kamala a little strength at the more personal feeling of support, rather than general one the rest of the people gathered provided and so she finally turned back to the hospital entrance and moved with as much confidence as she could muster into building with Thor at her side.

-

Thor waited several rooms back so give Kamala privacy for the meeting with her brother, but still close enough that even one good shout would have Thunder God there in no time. There would be no repeat of the Bruno visit, if Kamala started to feel cornered or scared then she would be pulled out of the room in a second. It helped her ‘shadow’ from last time had already been in the hospital before the pair had entered the building. Natasha would make the call if Kamala was in trouble, Thor would handle extraction.

As Kamala entered the room, she found Aamir wait patiently in his bed. He looked weak but seemed to have fared better then Bruno did in terms of injures…in at least the visible sense since Kamala knew who knows what she could not see either under the covers or worse inside the body of her only surviving family member.

As Kamala closed the door out of habit, she started say something but was cut off by Aamir asking while looking at the package in her arms, “You never opened it?”

This stunned Kamala so much she could not respond so Aamir let out a sigh and say, “Please take off your mask, Ms. Marvel did her job and got her here now I want to talk to my sister.”

Kamala’s widened at this and her first instinct was to turn and run, but as she spun around she found someone black her path to the door. Her Naani (grandmother), a person Kamala had not noticed had been sitting in the corner of the room because she was more focused on Aamir rather than her surroundings.

Kamala dropped the package in her arms and moved to activate the communicator in the nullifier but the aged hands of her grandmother stopped her. They did not use much force, they did not need to, Kamala could bring herself to use what strength she still had against her own family and could only allow the old woman place the right hand back to Kamala’s side, before inspecting the device on her left arm.

“What is this beta?” The old woman asked in Urdu, closing the panel Kamala had tried to open, knowing it was clearly how the scared girl had planned on avoid this discussion somehow.

“It…keeps me from using my powers and lets the Avengers know where I am or contact them if I was in trouble,” Kamala answered, hoping that did not further seal the deal she Kamala in their eyes since she had replied so easily. How did Aamir know? What gave her away? More importantly how was she going to convince them she was not Kamala!

“You’ll only be on trouble if you don’t take off that stupid mask Kamala!” Aamir stated in annoyance, but then tensed nervously as his Naani casually glanced around him and gave a look that must be what their Ammi tried to emulate but still needed to look angry to make it work, Naani could do it with a smile still on her face. Clearly ‘the look’ took a lifetime to master.

With Aamir’s comments put to rest, the old woman had Kamala bring the chairs from the corner in the room to Aamir’s bedside and two sat next to them him, Kamala squirming in her seat as the package she had dropped was placed her in lap by her Naani.

“From what Aamir had told me, I believe that will explain things beta. Though before you open it, may I please see my granddaughter?” The elderly woman asked, being gentle and kind in her request for the young heroine to remove her mask.

Kamala could feel what strength she had left fading, yet even though hands seemed to move on their own to edges of blue object on her face, she still trembled in fear. It was the only defense she had left, the withholding the confirmation the pair sought and let Kamala keep saying she was someone else, but then a realization hit her.

‘But in my dreams keep trying to tell the voice of Abu and Ammi I am Kamala and the other me we are the same person…yet now I keep telling what is left of my family I am not who I am…what is wrong with me? Even when Nikia confronted me I tried to lie. Am I only capable of lying anymore?’ Kamala asked herself in her mind, tears starting to flow and she tried figure out what to do, until a hand gently stroked her head in way that made her think her Ammi had come back from the dead to comfort her. In reality Kamala soon realize it was grandmother was the one providing the soothing action, the woman’s age hand starting from the top her head and running the length of her hair before repeating the process.

The elderly woman’s face held no judgment in her expression, only kindness and patients. Clearly this was a request not a demand like Aamir made, this made it harder but at the same time Kamala could not refuse and slowly her fingers got under the edges of the domino mask and pulled it away.

As the mask came down, their Naani looked to Aamir and said, “See how much easier that was?”

The young man looked away in humiliation at his actions, but muttered an apology to Kamala as best he could, while said teenager felt vulnerable with her secret out in the open among her family. None of the scenarios she prepared herself for where happening, most of them was based around a lot of at yelling and of blaming Ms. Marvel, not whatever this was or for anyone to know her secret…and to know it so casually!

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Aamir asked, hoping to get the focus off himself and back on the matter of why he wanted ‘Ms. Marvel’ to talk with him. He had thought Kamala would have opened the package already, so to understand why their parents had done things as they had.

Kamala was hesitant, but her grandmother just returned to stroking her hair, calming the girl enough to finally rip away the outer layer a paper and reveal the box inside. It had been sealed shut with tape, but not enough that Kamala could not force box open and reveal a terrifying sight, her costume…her spare costume! On top was envelope with her name on it, but all that had Kamala focus was the outfit.

“No…no…nonononono!” Kamala whimpered out, her eyes shut and shaking her head rapidly, refusing to believe what she was seeing. This had to mean something else, it just had to…because otherwise their reason they threw out her collection was because…they somehow knew she was Ms. Marvel! But she could have sworn she had been careful at hiding everything! How did they even find her spare costume!

As Kamala tried to deny what she was seeing, the sound paper being torn could be heard next to her and Kamala looked over see her Naani opening the letter. As Kamala was about say it was probably written in English, the teenager was surprised the elderly woman not only could read it, but had stopped speaking Urdu and read the letter aloud in English. The elderly woman had a heavy accent but the wording was probably on par when Kamala spoke in Urdu. Both women competent in their second language but both would still prefer to fall back their first. For Kamala this was English and for her Naani it was Urdu.

“Dear Kamala, both your Abu and I know what happened that day must have been both upsetting and confusing for you. While we have never supported your love of heroes, we also never had never tried stopping you either so to have something you took pride in growing all these years taken away without warning we understand why you probably feel angry. Though as you read this, we both pray you might now understand why since you see what we found before doing so.”

Kamala’s grandmother stopped briefly to allow Kamala a chance to let the opening lines sink in, seeing the child still wanting deny evidence that lay in her lap. The elderly woman failed to understand why the child feared her family knowing, outside said family yes but within? Perhaps it was due to there not really being any heroes in Karachi other than that boy Red Dagger, so the old woman really was unsure if she could make such a judgment.

“Ever since that night you asked for your burkini in the middle of the night while grounded, I started watching more closely when Ms. Marvel was sighted and when you came home. This includes your early morning returns when you assumed we were all asleep, I did not confront you those times because I wanted to either find something such as your costume or more preferably, you would simply tell me or your Abu. ‘Finding’ you upon one of the times returning home I worried might scare you to the point of running like you did, but as months started adding up I was forced to finally tell your Abu my suspicions and so we kept waiting until we found proof you where Ms. Marvel, until the day after the Inventor was defeated.”

Once again Kamala’s Naani stopped and allowed Kamala chance absorb the information, the girl still scared but heavily focused on what was next. She clearly wanted to know how she had been discovered, though at the same timed feared it.

“You must have been tired after stopping him or maybe so glad it was over you just took off your costume and left it buried under the mess in your closet floor thinking that would keep it hidden…you’ll be keeping that clean from now on when you come home!”

Both Kamala and Aamir could not help but laugh at that line, while their Naani smiled before continuing.

“I almost did not check there until I noticed the line of yellow on the hem of your burkini, so I dug through the mess and pulled out each piece, before calling your Abu at work about my discovery. I had worried you would have noticed before your Abu and I could speak about our possible ways to confront you, only to be surprised you where still out and about and you had at least one more costume!”

Kamala noticed Aamir giving her a ‘really?’ eyebrow raise, she was not sure if it was she had more than one costume or the fact she had not noticed the other was missing.

“I thought it was at a safe location I used to leave my costume between uses, shortly after the Inventor had been defeated I even started wearing my costume under my clothes! I never needed to check for it because one I was using was always with me!” Kamala tried to defend her poor choice of hiding location, though even she had to admit that was sloppy of her. Her parents possibly being nosy about the ‘strange behavior’ was one of the reasons for stashing it at the Circle Q!

Of course the old woman cleared her throat and got both siblings to focus on the matter at hand, so continued reading.

“We were unsure what to do to be honest. You were out doing very dangerous things no sixteen year old girl should be doing but at the same time you did something not every teen would do with such gifts, help others. Many teens would have been tempted use them for self gain or at least suffer in silence out fear of being discovered, but not you. You chose to emulate those you admired, it was something that made us so proud of you but also so scared for you.”

‘They were…proud for doing what I did? But then why…” Kamala started to wonder, not really focusing the part of them being scared since it still did not explain why her parents would throw out her things as response to her being a superhero. Maybe if they were just scared or angry at her for being Ms. Marvel but not proud first and scared second.

‘We were so scared we did not know what to do, how do we convince a girl with such power to stop? We knew we needed to do more than order you to do so and we certainly were not going to threaten our own child…so we thought we needed a strong statement that showed we could not let you risk your life at such a young age, so we resorted to what was clearly a mistake. We threw out you collection to hopefully show how much we were sacred of what you were doing, we even locked your window to hopefully keep you from leaving quickly enough to stop you, we still don’t know how you got away so fast while making so much noise!’

Kamala could feel the look of Aamir on her and answered the soon to come question, “I can change my size at will, is it so hard believe I can be as thin as paper if I wanted? I only smashed the window to get my bag out while at the same time venting my anger of finding my things treated like garbage!”

Aamir faced palmed so hard he looked like he stunned himself, making both Kamala and their Naani laugh before the woman moved on.

“We should told you we knew despite you being upset, maybe then you would have at least have been just hiding and taking time to let yourself calm down, not throw yourself into further danger by facing crime at a nonstop rate. We knew there was no way you could maintain the rate the news was showing you working harder than ever, so we knew we needed to find you as soon as possible, but we needed a way to have you come home of you own free will so we could talk properly. This needs to be resolved or you might collapse from exhaustion or worse get killed because you grew too tired to properly protect yourself!’

Kamala had to acknowledge her mother had been right on that part, even Bruno had tried to warn her but Kamala in her anger only wanted bury the bad feelings under the pride she felt at helping others and stopping the bad guys. She had stop caring about if she could keep going, just that next feeling of satisfaction.

‘So please beta, come home so we can talk, if not that then at least so you can rest and get a proper meal in you! We just want you to be safe, but never forget that we are still proud of what you have achieved in such a short time. We just sadly can’t sit by and let you get hurt or worse, so things do need to change, but in what way? That is why we want you home so we can at least try to find that answer! So please, we are begging you, come home.’

With those final words, Kamala’s grandmother confirmed it was signed with love Ammi and Abu, making Kamala feel numb. They clearly had wanted her to stop, but yet knew it would not be that simple. Was there an answer? There was no way for Ms. Marvel to just walk little old women across the street and community service. Kamala herself could do things like that, Ms. Marvel was means to do more than that. But at the same time she knew her parents would not let her continue like nothing happened…there was no answer!

Kamala started crying at this thought, even after their death she was nothing but a disappointment to them. She could not honor their last wish if she did what she felt was right, but she could not do that either. What was she supposed to do?!

“Kamala?” Aamir asked, concern in voice, while their Naani started stroking Kamala’s head again. It did not help this time.

“I…I can’t do what they ask but…I can’t be her at this rate either…what do I do…there is no answer! I want to be her again so bad but if I do I go against their final wish! No matter what I choose it’s wrong! Either I hurt them or I hurt myself!” Kamala sobbed out, her mind racing in circles trying to find that third option that might make things a little easier. All she could do though was clutch the costume in her arms with all her might, like it would somehow apart of that elusive third option.

Aamir was uncertain what to say, to him the answer was so simple, just stop being Ms. Marvel. But for Kamala she did not see it that way, how should he advise her without hurting her further? Good thing he was not alone on the matter.

“What do you want to do beta?” their Naani asked, shocking both of her grandchildren. Aamir because he thought Naani would want the same as their parents and Kamala because the elder of the family was letting her choose!

“I know what I want to do but…” Kamala started to say, but her Naani already had her finger to the teen’s lips and had a stern expression on her face.

“No beta, what do you want? Not what we want, not want their final wish might be…what does Kamala Khan want to do with her life, with her gifts?” The elderly woman demanded, wanting only to hear what her grandchild desire.

“I…I want to be her again…if I’m ever allowed…though wish I could at least tell them I was sorry for everything. It was my fault they…” Kamala finally started to say, but was silenced by the same action as before, though this time her Naani was back being kind and gentle.

“I know you did all you could beta and if that letter is any indication, they would not have blamed you either…but if that will help my granddaughter let go of her guilt then…” the old woman started say, but could only smile sadly as the teenager started shaking her head no with fresh tears starting to fall. Clearly Kamala knew what she was about to say. Her Naani was the one person who could speak for Muneeba, as she was the one who raised her and thus knew Muneeba better than most. 

“Ah so that is part of the reason you worried about their wishes, you don’t think you can be…” Kamala’s Naani started to say but the girl clamped her hands over her ears, she did not believe she dissevered to hear those words. Sadly an intervention happened, when Kamala felt a pair of firm hands pulled her own away from her ears.

Kamala looked up see Natasha decloaking as she pulled her hands down, shocking the two other family members a bit with this, but Natasha helped the eldest one regain focus as she said, “Please continue, I think this is something she has needed to hear for a long time, if her nightmares are any indication.”

This made Kamala beg her friend to let her go, while Aamir whispered the word ‘nightmares?’ and her Naani nodded in understanding. She had seen guilt in many before, clearly Kamala both wanted the pain to stop but at the same time think she deserved it, so much so it haunted her in her sleep.

The elderly woman gently place her hands on either side of Kamala’s face, making sure the teen looked her right in the eyes for what was to be next. No amount of tears or pleading that the teenager’s eyes held would stop old woman from at least starting Kamala’s healing.

“Kamala you are forgiven, I’m certain you did everything you could but if I must keep telling you that for the rest of my remaining days I will. You…are…forgiven beta,” They were such simple words, words that could hold much power under the right circumstances. For Kamala they were like knives digging into her heart, but despite the hurt they would open her up for healing later if she allowed it.

“Why Nat? Why?” Kamala asked as the Black Widow let her go and headed for the door, so give the family the privacy they had been promised. Natasha only broke that promise due to not wanting Kamala hurt like Bruno had done, now though it looked like Kamala’s only real threat was herself. Her Naani would keep Aamir from being a threat, so Natasha’s self appointed role was unneeded.

“Because unlike me, your ledger is clean; you only think it has red inside…I hope you see that sooner rather than later Kamala,” Natasha explained with a sad smile, before slipping outside, while Kamala’s Naani pulled her into a hug for both comfort and to help hide her still unmasked face.

After a few minutes of letting Kamala calm down, her Naani said, “You might not think it right now, but you have a good friend in that one beta...now let’s get you changed, I want to properly meet this ‘Ms. Marvel’ person before we let Aamir get some rest…something I think you need as well to be honest.”

Kamala wanted to protest all of these facts, but the gentle expression the woman still held smothered the rebellious flames the former hero usually had, with far greater ease then her Ammi had ever done. This allowed the elderly woman to lead Kamala into the small bathroom the room had, begin what felt like déjà vu for her, though unlike last time an elderly person she trusted was ‘restoring’ her rather than helping her let go of her alter ego. It did not feel like Ms. Marvel had been returned her just yet, but felt like steps in that direction.

They started with the red tights, unlike with Sheikh Abdullah though, Kamala’s grandmother was more active in helping Kamala slip them on, as she was both a woman and a family member. Next came the tall blue boots, then the blue burkini with the lightning bolt and finally the scarf, though as Kamala reached for it, her Naani intercepted Kamala hand and held out the one Tony had given her over the plain red one that was normal.

“A ‘reborn’ Ms. Marvel should show it beta,” her Naani explained, as she gently helped her granddaughter slip it on, before they moved on to the mask. The final step in said ‘rebirth’.

“It feels wrong Naani…I have not been given permission to be her yet,” Kamala whispered softly, but her Naani still easily heard it and just smiled.

“I’m your Naani, that means I have more authority than anyone on this Earth when it comes to you,” the elderly woman said gently, clearly being the one to give Kamala that permission. It still did not mean Ms. Marvel had been restored in the true sense, but made Kamala feel little less scared about putting her mask back on.

They then packed Kamala’s clothes and shoes into the box her costume had been in, so to make easier for her to carry them out. As they came out of the small bathroom, Kamala nervous as her brother looked at her, clearly torn on the issue.

“You want me to stop don’t you Aamir?” Kamala asked, though the answer was obvious.

“Yes…but not just because Ammi and Abu wanted you safe. You’re my sister and all I have seen is this Ms. Marvel stuff hurt you, first causing things to be rough between you and our parents, then being forced to watch them die like that before you could working things out…I feel like I’m watching you get torn apart one piece at a time!” Aamir stated, making Kamala start to shake again until her Naani stepped in.

“That’s enough Aamir, Kamala has made her wishes clear. What we should be doing is deciding how best to go on from here, my immigration will take time and we are uncertain when or if Kamala will come home, we must decide how best help both of you move onto whatever the next step will be,” the Naani to pair stated firmly but kindly, making Aamir nod in compliance while Kamala looked confused at hearing the word ‘immigration’.

‘You’re staying Naani? But what about everyone one back in Karachi?” Kamala asked, but her only response was tap on the nose from her grandmother and look said to just leave all the concerns to her, while leading Kamala to the door.

After bidding Aamir farewell, the pair exited the room to find Thor and Natasha waiting for them. The veteran heroes just nodded approvingly at the sight of her costume, making Kamala feel better that she had not crossed a line, though she did still mad at Natasha for making her hear those words.

“Thor…we are pulling a Riri on Natasha when we get back to the tower!” Kamala stated dryly, getting a raised eyebrow from her Naani and Natasha but a grin from Thor.

“A fitting punishment! Hawkeye and Hulk will be more then pleased to assist I am sure!” Thor stated proudly, Kamala’s Naani still a bit confused but Natasha just scoffed.

“They day you buffoons get me to play that stupid game is the day I…” Natasha started to say, but stopped when beeping came from Kamala’s nullifier, signaling she was getting a call.

Kamala opened the panel hit the answer button to get Cap’s voice over the speaker, “Sorry to interrupt Ms. Marvel, but an urgent mission has come up and we need the whole team, we sadly need to get you back to the tower and then deploy to deal Hydra on the east coast.” 

Kamala was about to apologize to her Naani but the elderly woman just smiled and nodded before saying, “If possible I wish to speak to with your guardians once they have the time, I believe we have much to discuss.”

Kamala was confused at this, Naani was her legal guardian or closest thing to one she had, until Widow nodded and responded, “Of course, I’ll let Tony and Steve know. As the co leaders of the team, they have been ones in charge of dealing with anything Ms. Marvel related.”

With that the trio left quickly, though Kamala was still confused. Why would Naani think she had to answer to the Avengers? She was her grandmother, how could anyone out rank that?

Back on the qiunjet the trio were met with Captain America and Hawkeye, the latter giving Black Widow a knowing look. The spy just rolled her eyes and practically dared him to try anything for the ‘punishment’ Kamala had mentioned.

Meanwhile Cap eyed the costume Kamala wore, for the first time seeing it its usual state. The crowd outside the hospital had cheered even louder than previously at the sight the local hero coming back in her true uniform over simple call out her previous attire had been.

“I’m guessing I should give this to you or Tony when you get back from your mission?” Kamala asked nervously, still feeling like she was breaking the deal in some way. True she did not know her spare had been in the package until today, but it still felt like she had lied to Tony and Steve when they asked her to hand over all her Ms. Marvel equipment.

“We can talk about that later…was wonder what was in that box, you never did open it. Given you did not seem to know what was inside I take it was the ‘worse case’ scenario?” Captain America responded, clearly being supportive rather than judgmental on the matter of her costume.

“Yeah…they wanted me to stop…Naani wants me to do what I feel is right but…what I feel is right is still against what they wanted and it was got them killed!” Kamala responded, though at first she was calm but as she went she clearly was starting tensed up and get stressed, only snapping out of it when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Kamala looked up to Natasha giving her a gentle smile and guiding her to her seat before saying, “Don’t focus on that right now Kamala, that is a different challenge…though if I recall correctly they also had a line saying they wanted to find the answer with you, not that they had the answer.”

Even though Kamala was still mad at Natasha, she could not help but agree with that statement. The line had been there; though was it just for the sake of bringing her home or did her parents genuinely want to find an answer that would help the three of them with the challenge that was Ms. Marvel?

-

Several hours later Kamala was in her room going over her homework assignments when she noticed an incoming call. The only one who would contact her by Skype was Sheikh Abdullah, but he would not normally call until late evening, it was only 4pm so this was unusual.

As Kamala answered the call though, she was shocked to find woman with a very familiar woman’s face from Iron Man and Spider-Man’s descriptions was there instead. Grey-white skin and electric hair made the young Inhuman see red as she growled out, “Where is Sheikh Abdullah? If you have hurt him I’ll…”

Kamala was cut off by the familiar shaking off Kaboom’s finger, while smirking evilly at teenager.

“Save it princess and listen carefully this time, I’m giving you a second chance to do our last little meeting right. You have until midnight to reach the abandoned power plant your old friend the Inventor used as his base; you get there and win against me the old man and your loud mouthed BFF live…lose or have any of your new friends or the cops help you and well…we both know what happened last time don’t we?” Kaboom stated with a wicked grin on her face, knowing she was pushing all the buttons that would set Ms. Marvel off.

“You dare threaten people I care about a second time…I’m going to…” Kamala started to say as her rage started to erupt, only to be stopped by a gasp and looked over to see Pepper standing in the doorway, getting a good look at the screen and between the image and Kamala’s words, knew what was going on.

“Jarvis do an emergency lockdown on Ms. Marvel’s room, now!” The frightened woman called out, knowing she had to keep Kamala away from this woman.

“A what? No!” Kamala managed to get out, just as metal plating sealed Kamala into the room, now by cutting her off from getting out the door but also covered the walls as well. Such measures were meant for securing room or the building against attackers, but for Kamala who did not know this, it seemed like it the reveling of a deception that had been pulled on her from day one. Steve had one told her the room was not prison, but seeing it become a cold metal cell like Helicarrier made her think it was a lie!

“Oh my, this makes things interesting! Hope you can make the deadline princess!” Kaboom mocked, before ending the call and Kamala ran to the door screaming to be let out.

Meanwhile Pepper was running away from the door to both get away from Kamala’s screams and please to be let out and make sure there was no background noise to confuse Tony as she attempted to phone him. It did not matter if the woman said no Avengers, this was a job for them and not the still healing child screaming for her freedom.


	10. Confrontation and Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala must escape the tower to save Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah but even if she does how will face Kaboom without her power and what will the fallout be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 10, hope you all enjoy and will let me know what you think. Also working on several future ideas for once this story is done, let me know if you want to hear about them in the next chapter's notes.
> 
> On a side note I'm hoping to get at least one more chapter if not two out before December 9th since well...Cyberpunk 2077 is out that week and my best days to write is the weekend but that also means it my best time to game...I hate having two hobbies lol! Here is hoping playing the most massive game of the year does not distract me too much :)

Chapter 10 – Confrontation and Confessions

“Let me out Pepper! I need to get out!” Kamala screamed for what felt like forever, thought it had only been an hour since she had been locked in her room by the redhead using the tower’s emergency lock down procedure.

Kamala been pounding the metal door in vain, she had even tried using the energy shield, but nothing she did even scratched it. She wondered if this was meant for if she had gotten her powers back without permission and tried to escape. It made no sense for such strong measures to be used for her ‘room’ otherwise!

Kamala knew the clock was ticking and needed to escape to save Sheikh Abdullah and Nikia, but how?

Just as she thought that though, the communicator in the nullifier beeped and responded with harsh, “What do you want liars?!”

“Wow knew Potts pissed you off by doing this but did not think you would take it out on the Avengers,” The voice of Amadeus spoke out of the speaker, shocking Kamala since she knew neither he nor Riri had accesses to the nullifier’s frequency.

“They said this room was not a cell and right now it feels like one!” Kamala screamed into the device, tears flowing down her face. To her this betrayal was beyond anything anyone could do to her.

“Um you do know any room in the tower can be locked down right?” Amadeus asked, though a smack on the other end made clear someone reprimanded him.

“Not now you 7th biggest jerk! Just get her out of there!” the voice of Riri ordered, confusing Kamala at what was going on. They were helping her…why? They could ruin their internship with the Avengers if they did that!

Before Kamala could say anything though the metal walls and door retracted and allowed her an easy escape. As she came out the door she found the pair waiting for her, Riri in full armor and Amadeus hulked out, the former holding a second emitter.

“Can’t hack the nullifier so thought you might need this…need me to at least give you a lift that is easy walking distance? We are going off of what Pepper heard so we know if we get too close then…well let’s not let that happen!” Riri explained as she handed the attack emitter so Kamala, who put it on gratefully but shook her head.

“No…you already are going to be in enough trouble for this, but why are you doing it though? The Avengers could kick you out! Heck how did you override the system?” Kamala asked as she tried to think of a game plan with her limited abilities.

“The Avengers are still radio silent so who knows when they can respond to Pepper’s messages and as for how we got you out, we interns do have some accesses…which we hopefully we will still once this over but we certainly won’t be able to call ourselves heroes if we don’t help those people,” Amadeus explained, though both he and Riri looked worried since Kamala was stuck getting to her destination the hard way if she did not accept their help.

Before either could point this out, Kamala took a gamble and called out, “Lockjaw!”

In seconds later a familiar flash of light happened and soon a giant bulldog with tuning fork on its forehead appeared, Kamala’s gamble paying off. She was unsure how much the lovable squish face would do for her, but she had to try and hope he could take her where she needed to go.

“Boy I need a huge favor, people I care about are in danger at the Inventor’s hideout from back when we beat him. I need you to get me to the tree line so you are hopefully not seen with me and from there I need to…go alone or they die,” Kamala explained, getting a whimper from the giant dog who pawed the nullifier on her left arm.

“I know boy, but my opponent has electricity based powers so it’s not like my Embiggening powers will be reliable if she gives a solid zap anyway and my healing is a double edge sword without my other powers to back it up…these emitters will have to be enough,” Kamala explained, getting a reluctant nod from her friend/pet. Though as Kamala placed her hands on Lockjaw she looked up to see Pepper coming down the hall at full sprint.

“We got this Ms. Marvel, go!” Amadeus ordered as he leapt forward and clamped his giant hand over Pepper’s mouth in case she could get Jarvis to trigger something that could stop the teleporting dog…if there was one, where was that when Loki teleported in and caught Thor off guard long enough to freeze him?

As Kamala disappeared, Pepper managed to pull away long enough to scream out, “What are you doing? She can’t fight that woman! She is in no state to be fighting a normal villain let alone one causing memories of that night going through her head nonstop!”

“Not your call Ms. Potts, if Ms. Marvel does not go people could die and if we went they would defiantly die! That will destroy her beyond what she went through the first time!” Amadeus stated firmly, stepping back now that Kamala was safely gone.

“You do know this won’t go unpunished right?” Pepper shot back, furious with the two teens who had been given their first assignment, which been to guard Kamala in place of full Avengers! This was going against what they were supposed to be doing, protecting Kamala from the very person she going off to fight!

Both teens just shrugged while Riri said, “Kind of guessed that but if it makes you feel better we did make sure to have a backup plan if things go south”

Pepper could only just glare at this, knowing there was no way these children could have a good plan given how they had just sent Kamala off to die!

-

Kamala made her way to entrance of the abandoned power plant and found her those she was seeking in the open dirt compound that the out walls surrounded. She had expected them to be inside the building…and was only expecting Kaboom, Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah, not a boy made a green glowing energy and another boy with black armor and a horned helmet.

“So it’s a three on one you want? Hostages not enough?” Kamala demanded, noting other than being bound, gagged and clearly scared, the two she cared about were fine. Both were shaking their heads ‘no’ most likely trying to tell her to leave without them, but stopped when the teenager in black armor made two black swords appear in his hands hold them to their throats.

“Oh we are just here to keep an eye on our ‘guests’ while you fight Kaboom…though if our information in correct you did not come ready for this. You still got that ‘leash’ on and your little toys instead, think so little of Kaboom you think you can win as a human?” The boy in armor demanded, mocking Kamala and making clear they had more information than the former heroine would have liked.

“Ha! I more insulated she did not even come dressed occasion, I wanted to trash that silly getup she normally wears but instead she is wearing the outfit from when she went into the hospital. I’m only wrecking a cheap knock off the original!” Kaboom called out as she stepped away from the group and closer to Kamala, clearly thinking very little of burkini style of her normal costume or of the t-shirt Tony had given her.

She still had said costume in her room, Kamala changed out of when returning to the tower since she was still ‘benched’. She even put the scarf Tony had given her in the box since Kamala felt the shirt was enough to make her feel more like herself without being too Ms. Marvel like. Plus even if she wanted to, she never had the time change into her costume given how hectic the last hour was.

“Your assuming that last few months I have not been working on some new stuff…I thought I should make things fair…are we doing this or we going to keep talking?” Kamala responded coldly, getting in a stance Steve had been drilling in the last couple of months. Even without practical use, she knew she needed to at least try use what she had learned.

“Fine with me princess!” Kaboom replied with a cocky smirk, before firing a simple bolt from her hand, which Kamala block by making the shield spring to life. The energy disk easily handled the lightning bolt, though the teenager prayed that her opponent at full power could not over power her only defense.

Kaboom clearly was not taking the fight seriously, since all she did was charge forward with cackling fists and deliberately pound away the energy shield. Kamala had tried to send a solid right cross into Kaboom’s gut in response but as such attacks were meant for follow up and not starts it was easy for Kaboom step out of the way.

‘How does Cap fight using the shield at the same time?’ Kamala asked herself in a mix a fear and frustration, not being the experienced fighter her mentor was. The shield had been more a toy and security blanket, Kamala had never intended to work it into her fighting style so had zero clue how to properly make it work with how she fought before coming to Avenger Tower, let alone with what Steve was teaching her!

Meanwhile the two teenage boys looked bored, the one in armor even let the weapons disappear since clearly this was going to be a short fight unless ‘Ms. Marvel’ managed to start showing that original talent she demonstrated in the earlier days of her time fighting crime in Jersey.

“And your parents were hoping you would marry this girl?” the one in black armor whispered to the glowing one, who shot other teen a glare.

“Unless you plan on killing the prisoners, keep your mouth shut about that!” The one that at least appeared to be made of green energy hissed, while Nikia tried to figure out what all that meant. Did the glowing one know Kamala? The Sheikh was only focused on the battle, one that was clearly stacked against the one who had come to save them.

Kamala was now getting pushed back by much stronger bursts of electricity, her shield holding strong but Kamala was starting to lose her balance now that the force of each attack was physically moving her.

“Oh come on Ms. Marvel, at least trying and fight back! I’m starting to get bored!” Kaboom called out with a cackle, clearly enjoying herself despite her claim. The electric villain wanted to see just how long it took to break the fallen hero, she wanted to finish the job she started!

Kamala just gritted her teeth as she fought to keep on her feet, if she got knocked down now then unless she could somehow get the dome shield up, she would be finished! If she could only get a second to use the attack emitter and start trading shots!

‘Should have gone for the close range attack and not just a regular punch earlier, it could have made her nervous even I missed!’ Kamala realized, seeing how she not good at using gear in place of powers, not without a lot more training. She had been in the right mindset back when investigating the school with Spider-Man, but now when it was an unplanned encounter she was constantly second guessing how to do things since all her usual go to methods were based around her powers.

As Kamala fought to come up with battle plan, Kaboom stopped firing lightning bolts and raised her hands above her head while calling out, “Let’s play a game of dodge ball, since you hiding behind your toy will be our audience to sleep at this rate!”

With those words a large ball lightning gathered over Kaboom’s head, clearly starting turn the fight up to a whole new level. Kamala knew the regular shield would not be enough and quickly raised the emitter overhead and prayed the dome could handle the soon to come blast.

Kaboom just smirked at this and sent her ball of destructive power at the other Inhuman, who was soon engulfed in a massive burst of light, sound and bursts of electricity. Once the smoke clear that followed said attack the dome was flickering out of existence and sparks coming from the shield emitter and the device died after taking such an assault.

“Well your toy saved you but looks like your only defense is gone, so what now princess?” Kaboom mocked, thinking the ‘great Ms. Marvel’ was about to beg for mercy now that she was helpless. The cocky woman was so focused on her minor victory she did not react in time to the other arm shooting up and firing the kinetic blast from the attack emitter and knocker her back several feet.

While Kaboom was sore and dazed from the sudden counter, Kamala dashed forward, rotating her arm into position to make her weapon charge the close range version and aimed for Kaboom’s head!

As Kamala brought her fist down though, Kaboom rolled out of the way, causing a cloud of dirt and debris to fill the air where Kamala had struck.

Kaboom was wide eyed at this, clearly realizing that would been devastating if it hit…if not deadly! The crazy girl would pay!

“You bitch! I’ll fry to a crisp!” Kaboom screamed out she started to gather more electricity in her hands but was stopped by Kamala diving out the dust cloud with left jab, followed a second one and then a right cross. A rather simple combo Cap had been teaching her but very effective and rattled Kaboom’s brains from the three strikes.

As the villain was staggering back, Kamala then brought the nullifier up and slammed it into Kaboom’s face, a crunching sound heard and blood now pouring down Kaboom’s face from her nose, said nose clearly broken from having the solid steel casing smashing into it.

“This is for my parents!” Kamala snarled as she had the attack emitter power up and aimed the attack right at Kaboom’s stomach, sending the grey skinned woman flying several feet back and rolling in the dirt.

As the electricity wielder started coughing up blood, Kamala walked over to her and looked down with a cold expression on her face, part of her screaming out to finish this. This other teenager took her parents from her, threatened to do the same to Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah…Kamala knew she should stop this woman from ever doing it again yet…

Kamala slowly looked back to where Nikia and the Sheikh were being held and saw her friend looking terrified at what she was seeing and Abdullah looking sadly at her. They were reacting to her, not Kaboom?

Kamala then looked back at the injured villain and then back at the Sheikh, who just shook his head but stopped when a black blade was place back at his throat.

“Good job hero…now finish her or they pay the price!” The one in black armor ordered, while the glowing one took out a marble and started filling it was a similar green energy he gave off. Peter told her it clearly made said objects explosive so Kamala knew both boys were preparing to carry out their threat if she refused to comply.

‘What do I do?’ Kamala screamed internally, trying to figure out if she should just this once give into that desire for payback. She had let Shocker go when the police officer told her she was better than this but…Shocker was just hired muscle, this was one who pushed the button!

As Kamala thought this though her eyes once again met Sheikh Abdullah’s and once again she could tell what he wanted her to know with just his look, he was telling her not to. He was telling her she was better than her foes, who clearly cared little for one of their own.

The superhero side of her agreed with this, but the part of Kamala that was a grieving daughter so badly wanted to just let go, unleash her wrath on the other Inhuman woman, but then recalled what Avengers had said before. Widow saying she would not let Kamala within a mile of these people, of Cap saying something similar as well but also saying while it was okay to have these feelings it was important to make sure she controlled them and avoided doing something she would regret. Even Spider-Man had told her if she felt she could not face these people without losing control to just send him in her place.

‘I…know what to do,’ Kamala thought as she once again turned back to Kaboom and raised her arm to fire at the face of the now very terrified Kaboom, too weak to defended herself as she still fought to breath properly as she still coughed up small amounts of blood.

“How does it feel to be afraid like you made my parents in their final minutes?” Kamala demanded as the emitter started to charge up to fire…just before she spun around and fired right at the two threatening the people she cared about.

Neither boy could react in time for the blast to hit the glowing one and slam into the one in black armor. This easily knocked the pair away from Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah, though the blade clearly cut the side of his neck.

“No!” Kamala screamed out in a panic, until she a familiar red and blue figure landed next to the old man and used a short webbing burst to cover the mark to avoid the risk of it being a major artery.

“Sorry I’m late, me being out late during Jersey riots has been giving me to trouble back home…guessing I don’t need to force a web cartridge down…look out!” Spider-Man started to say but the lenses that covered his eyes indicated they went wide at the sight of something behind Kamala, who did not get chance to turn and see what hit her. All she knew was the most intense electric shock she ever felt hit from behind before her world went black.

-

Kamala awoke surrounded by flames, she was back here again the place she had been afraid of for months and this time her parents’ voices were livid.

“The murderer was spared, after what she did!” Her Abu’s voice roared, the flames getting hotter like the flames represented the anger he felt.

“Such a useless girl, pretends she is our Kamala and still can’t do what a good daughter would have done!” her Ammi’s voice added, the flames again growing hotter.

“But it was the wrong thing to do!” Kamala cried out, feeling like she was thrown into an oven. The flames were not touching her, but they might as well be with how much heat they were giving off.

“The wrong thing was to let her get away! You failed to even arrest her let alone punish her!” The voice of Ms. Marvel roared out, making Kamala spin around to get punched in the face by Ms. Marvel, looking a little beat up like she was still recovering from that blast from Thor gave her last time.

Kamala tried to punch back, but Ms. Marvel grabbed her by the arm and tossed her over the shoulder and onto the ground, before following up with an Embiggened fist slamming down like a hammer onto Kamala’s chest.

“But…heroes don’t…” Kamala weakly tried to say, before getting a solid kick Ms. Marvel to the ribs, cutting Kamala off.

“Don’t tell me what heroes would do, I am one! You are just the fake who destroyed me and are making a mess wherever you go! Do you think just because the Sheikh ‘said’ no he was right? He saves souls not lives, I do that! Heroes make the tough decisions even it means we hurt ourselves in the process! You had her and you backed off just because he did not approve!” Ms. Marvel ranted at Kamala, who was unsure what believe.

‘Sheikh Abdullah is someone Abu and Ammi would have told me to obey, yet so far they seem to be mad I did so…yet they were the ones wrong and it was my fault it happened! Who should I listen to?! Is my other self right and I should have ended Kaboom when I had the chance?’ Kamala thought as she curled up into a ball and tried to shield herself from Ms. Marvel’s relentless kicks.

As the assault continued though, Ms. Marvel was stopped by the sound of a repulsor blast, making Kamala look up to see Iron Man and Cap again, only to be surprised see Iron Heart hovering nearby and Ms. Marvel diving away as Amadeus came slamming down where the Inhuman hero had been standing.

“If what you say is true then I rather be a villain than be on the same side as you!” Iron Heart declared while Amadeus just smirked and cracked his knuckles. Kamala had not expected anyone to come once she ran out of Avengers or Peter’s help, but now these two were coming to help her? Kamala knew she had been spending a lot of time with the pair of fellow teen heroes but had she really become that close? At least in her mind anyway?

“Oh so she ran out of good heroes to save her so now the B team is here? This should be easy!” Ms. Marvel stated with a feral grin, growing to her giant size, while Amadeus jumped to deliver a punch to Ms. Marvel’s face but the giant hero just countered with one of her own, the more massive fist pushed Amadeus back, but only far enough to land back next to the two girls.

“Hmmf, your no Hulk, just a cheap knock off like the Iron Barbie with you, what do a couple of rookies think they can do against someone who has been an actual hero!” Ms. Marvel mocked, getting growl from all three teens.

“I refused to think I’m this arrogant even at my worst, I’m only been doing the hero thing for a few months so isn’t this a ‘pot meet kettle’ moment?” Kamala grumbled while, Iron Heart started charging up the arc reactor in her chest piece for a Unibeam.

“Ask your shrink the next time you see her because oh boy do you have issues!” Amadeus stated with annoyance at Ms. Marvel comment but did seem at least smirk at Kamala’s for a brief second.

“That’s why she writes these things down Amadeus!” Iron Heart stated before firing her attack, though while it did force Ms. Marvel brace herself, the second the beam ended all the copy of Kamala did was shrink back down to normal to heal the damage.

“Big mistake short stack!” Amadeus shouted, getting a ‘hey’ from Kamala as he dove in to slam both fists overhead style into the cocky hero, but she dove out of the way and made a dash for Kamala.

“Oh like that is going to happen!” Amadeus called back as he gave chase, while Iron Heart fired with her repulsers to slow Ms. Marvel down. Iron Heart did not need to check her fire since she knew Amadeus could shrug off the blasts for at least a short while.

Kamala meanwhile knew she needed to do something, but what? She only had her powers once before here and the voices of her parents robbed her of her strength when she had tried. She even looked down and found not even the attack emitter despite having it when she was awake.

“I need to wake up…how do I wake up?” Kamala begged her own mind, praying she could make her eyes snap open but nothing happened.

“Why? We are winning!” Amadeus called over, holding up Ms. Marvel in his grasp, making have a split second of hope until Iron Heart callout in panic, “Just crush her fast!”

This confused Amadeus while Ms. Marvel just smirked and began shrinking while saying, “7th smartest person my ass!”

Amadeus tried grabbing the small version of Ms. Marvel but she just slipped between his fingers and jumped away, only to get big again seconds later to slam a massive Embiggened fist into his face to stun the more likely stronger opponent before heading back towards Iron Heart and Kamala.

“Oh no you don’t!” Iron Heart said as she charged another Unibeam but Ms. Marvel just sent opened palm style sent out her massive arm towards Kamala pushed her towards the flames.

“No!” the trio all called out in horror, Kamala soon switch to screams of pain as she was burned alive!

-

Kamala woke up with a scream as she found herself in the medical room of Avengers Tower, once again strapped down. She was still scared given how she did leave without permission but she was not thrashing about like she did the last time this happened.

“Kamala?!” the Inhuman heard a voice next to her and saw Black Widow in a chair next to her bed, making Kamala have mixed feelings at the sight of said woman. Kamala still felt like she had been lied to about her room not being a cell, yet she still remembered how the woman had been so willing to protect her from Deadpool. It certainly helped of the two women in the tower, Natasha never tried to be a mom, an aunt or older sister maybe but not a mom like Pepper sometimes did.

Natasha meanwhile could easily read the mix response in Kamala’s eyes and simply waited for the young girl to calm from whatever her night terror had been let her speak first. Any number of things could be the source of the negative side of emotions though one of two mainly claimed Natasha’s mind.

One was the lockdown being used on her, pretty much the whole team had never tried to make Kamala feel like she was prisoner beyond the nullifier. They had never even told her about it, even their two interns never used it when facing down Loki so of course having Potts of all people use it so quickly against Kamala would probably give the teenager several possible ideas.

The second was the one time Kamala needed an Avenger to help her against her main threat, was the one time they decided to leave it to Riri and Amadeus to protect her so they could have the whole team to deal with Hydra. Natasha herself regretted not suggesting herself or Hawkeye for guard duty, either of them could have easily overridden Potts’ lockdown order and been able give guidance during the hostage situation over this dive head first into it solo plan Kamala took.

After a few minutes Kamala finally asked, “Why did know one tell me I could sealed in a like a criminal? The nullifier was not enough?”

‘Option one I see,’ Natasha thought as she leaned forward and released the strap across Kamala’s chest while answering the question.

“Kamala that could be done to any room in the tower, I could just as easily be locked in my own room if someone had higher accesses then me. Pretty sure Tony is the only one with that level and only because it’s his building,” Natasha explained, noting the girl seemed to want to believe her, but clearly the sudden lockdown had but fear into the girl…did not help is happened a day after being kidnapped by S.H.I.E.L.D.

‘Dam you Potts!’ Natasha thought as she moved onto the restraints on Kamala’s wrists, then onto her ankles, than move to get a wheel chair. It was late, Kamala had left late afternoon so she had actually been asleep for several hours and had actually woken up at 2am. If the girl was going to feel safe here again, Natasha felt there was only one easy way to do it.

“I’ll prove it, let go for a short trip,” Natasha said as she helped Kamala out of the bed and into the chair, taking her down the halls to the kitchen to grab some of Kamala’s chips before they headed for Natasha’s room. Both of these actions confused Kamala until they entered the rather simple room, it had very few decorations it was mainly like an office with bed…if the office was meant for a spy well versed in a variety of weapons and tools.

At first Kamala felt a bit scared as to how this was supposed to prove anything other than Nat had a lot of deadly toys, until the spy spoke out, “Jarvis, please engage the lockdown on my room to prove to Ms. Marvel her own room is not a cell, set release time to 7am unless an emergency comes up.”

With an acknowledgement from the AI and the same metal plating sealed them in to Widow’s room. The sight made Kamala feel scared but she was not alone and Natasha did say it was set unlock on its own, especially when said woman picked her up and set her on the bed so they could sit side by side.

“See any room can do it, we are not singling you out. I understand why it might make you angry or scared though, it happened just after what S.H.I.E.L.D. did and someone you trust was the one to do it…don’t worry we are going over what happened tomorrow so this does not happen again,” Natasha explained, which only made Kamala look more nervous.

“How…how big a mess did I make of things?” Kamala asked nervously, confusing Natasha with the question.

“Kamala…we were not exactly thrilled you went to fight Kaboom, though it was an impossible choice given what was at stake and you certainly did not have the best situation to think clearly. We do need to do something about what happened obviously but I wondering what you think is going to happen?” Natasha asked, trying to get inside Kamala’s head and figure out how to maybe settle some of her fears.

“I don’t know…I’m worried I might have made Riri and Amadeus lose their internship, I know they were the ones to decide to help me on their own but I could have stayed put even if they did let me out…I defiantly know I’m not getting the shield back after that stunt and probably no games…why do I feel like I’m listing off a grounding, whatever you plan on do…” Kamala started saying but was silenced in the middle of her rambling by Natasha putting a finger to Kamala’s lips.

“Okay enough of that, as you said those two decided to help you, you staying or going would not have changed that. As for the games oh god yes you will not be playing those for awhile but not for the exact reasons you are thinking, close but not quite. But the shield, did you ever really need it? I know when you first came here it was nice thing to have while you got used to not having your powers but I think we both know you are not a weapon based fighter. One of my personal issues with you going to fight Kaboom was you did it with weapons we intended as a last resorts for the school infiltration, not things to go into an actual battle with a super powered opponent!” Natasha stated firmly but not harshly, clearly being supportive but also not letting Kamala go to wild in her imaginings.

Kamala meanwhile was confused more than ever, was she in trouble or not? It was bad enough she already felt like she failed her parents, but now it seemed like she was going to get off easier then she deserved with the Avengers. The guilt was so bad she started to tremble and tears started to form in her eyes, making Natasha put her arm around Kamala while looking worried.

“What’s wrong Kam? Something else that happened today still bothering you?” Natasha asked, hoping the girl did not keep too many of her cards close to her chest. She knew the young girl’s guilt often made her look for ways to blame herself.

“I failed again…I could have kept Sheikh Abdullah from getting hurt if I just did it…even my parents and the other me said I failed!” Kamala whimpered out, making Natasha gaps and pull the girl into a hug after grabbing a recorder from her night stand and held it close to Kamala.

“You did the right thing by not going through with it Kam, tell me about the dream and we can use this to write it down in your journal later,” Natasha instructed gently, though could tell this is one nightmare that Kamala probably did not want to admit to Rachel in the next session. Given dream were influenced by one of subconscious, Natasha could easily guess that Kamala probably felt she was ‘evil’ or at least going down that route.

Despite Kamala’s reluctance, Natasha was able to coax the girl to speak into the device and go over what happened in her nightmare. The veteran spy stayed silent and simply listened as the teenager spoke of the things her parents and other self said, of what happened during the fight and how it ended.

“Oh Kam, even after what your Naani said you think those ‘people’ are your parents? Does that sound like the ones who raised you?” Natasha asked soothingly, knowing she needed to get through to the girl or she might never start truly healing from her loss if she still acted like those voices were from beyond, not from within.

“That was before they died!” Kamala said through a new wave of sobs, not fully grasping what Natasha meant. She just assumed the part of being forgiven and not parts beyond that.

“So your parents would deny who you are just because they are dead? That letter made it clear they knew you are Ms. Marvel, that they were scared for your safety above anything else…does that sound like those voices that say they think you are lying about being Kamala Khan, that they want you to face danger to avenge them?” Natasha asked with odd mix of firmness yet still being supportive, getting the reaction she was hoping for, a halt to the sobs as realization kicked in.

“If…if that…but what if…” Kamala started saying, but stopped, the part of her wanting to deny what she was being reminded of trying kick in but at same time she knew it was impossible to turn away from the truth. Those voices still acted like they did not know who was behind the mask, even in anger could her parents lie in that way?

Natasha just smiled sadly as she watched Kamala go to war with herself, one part still wanting to believe it was her parents’ voices haunting her, but the other fighting to acknowledge the truth. It was a start, so Natasha released the hug to open the chips and offer them to the girl knowing she must be hungry.

-

At 7am Kamala woke up to the sound the lockdown ending, having fell asleep while trying to figure out what to think of what Natasha told her and mindlessly snacking on the chips. Natasha had even tucked her into her own bed, while said woman just sat next to it until the unlocking happened.

“Feeling any better Kamala?” Natasha asked, gently picking the girl up and putting her into the wheel chair. There was a reason she had chosen 7am, she knew unless Kamala was still in a deep sleep the team wanted to have the ‘punishment’ before breakfast.

“Numb…” Was Kamala only response, a better reply then what Natasha had been expecting. The older woman was worried it be much more negative but it seemed that Kamala was still trying to process what was revealed during their talk. With any luck the revelation might be what the girl needed to start pushing back against the nightmares.

“Well it will take you time to sort out everything, you have been through a lot the last few days. I’d like to think you might be able to put things behind you soon if the ‘punishment’ works” Natasha said as she started to wheel the girl out the room, noting Kamala tensed hearing punishment but still seemed to be resigned to her fate.

A few minutes later, Kamala and Widow entered the conference room to find the rest of the team waiting. Kamala was confused as to why Hawkeye and Hulk were sitting with Pepper, Riri and Amadeus, seeing how she was place with them, while Natasha sat with Tony and Steve on the other end of the table, Thor sat off to the side like was…neutral?

“Alright now that Kamala is here, let’s keep things simple and to the point. We got a bit of a mess thanks to what happened yesterday, between Pepper causing the lockdown, Hulk and Hawkeye giving the communication frequency for the nullifier to our two Interns, them freeing Kamala before we even had a chance to hear and hopefully provide any kind of help and then of course, Kamala charging in head first with nothing but two emitters to fight three Inhumans alone,” Steve said sternly, which had Kamala looking to the two Avengers that had help her without her knowing.

“What? Amadeus text Hulk the issue and I…kind of helped him figure out how they could contact you so you were ready when the lockdown was ended…Thor is a bit salty he was not asked to help hence why he is sulking off to the side,” Hawkeye explained, though ducked a hammer being thrown at him by Thor.

“That’s enough you two! Now since you two helped Amadeus and Riri you are both limited to the tower for next month unless on mission and will be limited to training or helping the Interns train during down time” Steve ordered making clear any hobbies or entertainment was off limits. Made Kamala think this was more of grounding for everyone, something that would have made her laugh under normal circumstances. Natasha seemed overly pleased with that, Kamala easily guessing it was a month free of Warframe taking over the living room.

“As for said Interns, Riri you are cut off from the labs or your amour for said month barring an attack on the tower or training exercise, same goes for your transformation Amadeus. You both will also be helping with tower maintenance beyond your normally assigned tasks,” Steve continued, the two teens nodding solemnly at the punishment.

Kamala knew she was next, but was surprised to hear Tony speak up instead of Steve and looked right at Pepper with a stern expression on his face.

“Ms. Potts, your tower accesses is limited to floors below the Avenger’s assigned floors unless I personally bring you to said floors for Stark Industries business, we will also be going over the exact limits of your authority will be once the month is up,” Tony stated firmly, getting a timid nod from his assistant before attention from both Steve and Tony was focused on Kamala, who gulped loudly.

“Kamala, as you can guess your own personal time will be heavily restricted and from what Natasha told us from while you were sleeping you already guess the shield is not going to be repaired…as for your training…” Steve started saying, making Kamala think there would be no more lessons from him for at least the month, possibly never again seeing how if they were lucky Peter managed to keep Kaboom from escaping with her allies. She never did get told how the battle ended after what ever hit her knocked her out.

“…is to be increased in preparation for return to active duty, assuming you are fit mentally once the month is up. If not training you will be doing your usual school work or being taught how to use certain tower systems by Tony or myself, along with proper procedures for all scenarios…such as hostage situations. Though either Natasha or I will be instructing you, the bulk of this training will be in New Attilan, as they will have both the facilities and prior knowledge of previous polymorphs to help us train your powers,” Steve finished, making Kamala’s eyed widen in shock.

“Train my…” Kamala started to say, before a beep and a click come from her wrist and the nullifier fell onto her lap, Tony now holding up a small device like one would use for turning of a car alarm. Natasha meanwhile walked back over to Kamala to put a bracelet on her left arm that looked like her own, but said original was still on her right arm, confusing the teenager.

“I told you it might be a good idea to look into a replacement option for your usual one…now you can’t say no though since while that can’t store objects for you, it’s still a communicator and tracking device. As an a future intern, you are going to need something better then a phone if you need help once you hit the streets again” Tony explained, Kamala starting to grow more and more confused.

‘But why am I being rewarded while everyone else is…’ Kamala started to think before a playful flick to the forehead snapped her out of her thoughts, looking up to look Natasha in the eyes who had a slight evil smirk.

“You do remember Steve said we would be handling training right? Think military boot camp rather than the more gradual buildup we had in mind for you. Besides you did help us grab Kaboom and one of her ‘partners’ since she was too weak to escape after her cheap shot she gave you and the injuries from the fight plus the glowing one who was clearly the least skilled of the three in combat outside use of his powers, Spider-Man made sure they stayed put while the last one teleported away,” Natasha explained, still being gentle but making clear they would be working her hard.

“I…guess that makes senc…wait…future intern?” Kamala started to say and then remembered what Tony had said why she was getting the bracelet.

“Well more like the first intern, you are just not able to fully take on the role while the whole missing Inhuman situation happening. What did you think inspired the Avengers Intern Program? We figured if we were helping you with the more simplified form of training and support system, what would happen with a more fleshed out program do for other young heroes? Things like what happened with Shocker or even an accident during any form of crime fighting could be hard a young hero. We obviously won’t be able to help every single one of them, but those we can we should,” Tony clarified, making Kamala have mixed feelings on what was happening.

She knew she would be worked hard during training, that it would not feel so easy once that was put into effect but at the same time it currently it felt like a slap on the wrist compared to the others…well maybe Hawkeye and Hulk were on the same level as her since they clearly seemed un-phased by their punishment.

As she thought this, Clint nudged her and said, “I would be scared if I were you, I heard the first week in going be a ‘stress test’ for your powers so they can base the other three weeks.”

Kamala blinked at this while Natasha slapped Clint upside the head while saying, “You make it sound like we are going to push her to the brink of death!”

“What is a stress test then?” Kamala asked nervously, starting to think that must be the punishment she was missing.

“Relax Stretch, it will be hard on the body but it’s perfectly safe and is why your month of training is at New Attilan. We are simply going to find your current actual limits and how to help you push past them…you might think you know them but this is not what you can do in battle, we are talking about your max range you can stretch, grow, etcetera to the point of you will be feeling heavy strain to maintain said limit. In real life you never want go the limits we will be finding, it would be like trying pickup a weight you can just barely handle and trying lift it overhead,” Tony explained, getting mild glares from Steve and Natasha and a wide eyed expression from Kamala.

“This is going to hurt…isn’t it?” Kamala asked weakly, thinking this was the punishment she had not noticed until now. At least now it made more sense on that front, though it did not answer an even bigger question…why now? If they had Kaboom and one other, was the mission not almost over? The Avengers just needed to know where the missing Inhumans where and job was done, they did not need her anymore so why keep her around?

“We won’t be letting get hurt by any means solider, think of it like how we found out what your ideal training weight limit was so you can build muscle without injury. Training your powers just takes more effort since some powers don’t always follow the same rules as muscles, some stay the same while others grow and evolve. The testing will let us confirm that and how to do it…though after the week is up the other three will same rather tame I’ll admit,” Steve answered reassuringly, before getting up and helping Kamala out of her wheel chair, the teen not noticing her healing had been fixing the damage that had everyone being cautious with her until now.

“Now let’s go get breakfast, it should be waiting for us since we have a ‘guest’ in the kitchen. I think after that healing you could use a good meal” Kamala’s mentor instructed, the last of the tension that had been in the room disappearing, though all the heroes in the room could tell Kamala was keeping one or more concerns back, but they would let her talk about it when she was ready.

Heading to the kitchen, Kamala found her Naani doing the cooking which of course stunned the girl, who had not expecting to see her grandmother so soon let alone after…what just happened.

‘Please tell me know one told her about what happened, she will never let me be Ms. Marvel if she…’ Kamala started think, just before the old woman saw her and wrapped her arms around her.

“Oh beta, I know they said you would be fine but its good see you up! You are not…normally that hurt are you?” her Naani asked, making Kamala tense since clearly the woman must have seen her in the medical room.

“Not from what our records have shown, she has had scary moments but that state she was in is not a common one. Though we are hoping after the next month is up and some clear changes to how the intern program is run, we can lower the odds of it further,” Natasha spoke up for Kamala, clearly not bringing up the time Kamala got shot at the Circle Q or the time the Inventor’s attack on her school had probably put her in an even worse state then the surprise attack from Kaboom.

“Changes?” Kamala asked in confusion, that was not part of the meeting. What changes where the Avengers making?

“Well we need two things; the first is a field leader for once all the interns besides the newest one are done with the one month probation, which will be either you or the new guy, Ms. Marvel. You are the two with the most actual experience dealing with super villains. The second is someone handle a major crisis such what happened to you, interns should not be in such a position to make that kind of call without an actual Avenger there to advise them…so we added a new member to them team to be mainly here for that role but can also give us full Avengers a hand is we need it,” Steve explained with a smirk, confusing Kamala even more.

“So who are these two new…” Kamala started to ask, when there was a loud crash in the front room and she looked to see Spider-Man sliding across the floor into the kitchen area.

“I won’t be taken alive…oh the cute one is awake, high cute one!” A very dazed Spider-Man said, as he just laid the floor and waited for the worlds to stop spinning. He probably would not have said any of that aloud if he was not recovering from the crash landing into the building.

Kamala just blinked and gained a slight blush at this but her Naani’s eyes slightly narrowed at the word cute, while a new figure entered the room, Captain Marvel.

“Wow you were right Stark, he was hard to pin down…still only took me a day but you did give me a leg up by learning his rather chaotic patrol routes. Helped an armored car got stolen and just needed to follow until he swept in to stop it…getting him to come with me on the other hand proved to be harder than expected!” Captain Marvel stated with a smirk and crossing her arms across her chest.

“I don’t recall anyone telling anyone telling you to throw him though any windows…you okay Webs?” Natasha asked as she knelt down next to the teenager, who looked like he was starting to regain his senses.

“Fine…but I refuse to be drafted…especially if SHE is the one I answer to!” Spider-Man stated, pointing Captain Marvel and finally let things click for Kamala.

“Wait…Spidey is the new intern? How come you guys are forcing him?” Kamala demand, though the fan girl in her was practically doing a happy dance if her guess was right and Captain Marvel one advising the interns.

“We are not forcing him…just trying to get him to realize things are getting too big for him to handle alone anymore. With the ‘Big Man’ and the Green Goblin in the picture, he needs backup. It’s not like when he seemed to just be going from one new villain to the next, he has one man making planned attacks on him and who knows what the other is up to other then targeting the first,” Tony replied casually, though did heavily imply Spider-Man had little choice in the matter.

“I will be just fine,” Spider- Man said as he started to stand, but quickly found himself needing Kamala to steady him since whatever ringer Captain Marvel put him through, it clearly would take a little longer to wear off.

“What did you do it him Danvers?” Steve asked, slightly annoyed at the ‘cute’ comment the boy gave his student but did acknowledge Spider-Man was not exactly in his right mind when speaking at first.

“Took him into the upper atmosphere just long enough to get really light headed and brought him back Earth just before he passed out,” Captain Marvel replied, getting a glare from the Avengers while Kamala got Spider-Man to the couch in the front room.

-

Breakfast was a short affair, it did not take Tony long to finally get Spider-Man to officially join the intern program since Tony did list the number of resources the boy would have accesses to and most importantly he mentioned in private that Peter could be there for Kamala for both her training and for when the issue with them missing Inhumans resolved. That would most likely end with Kamala needing to reappear as Kamala, if for no other reason other than set the ground work for her to go back to Jersey after Ms. Marvel was able move about freely again.

While this was going on Kamala on the balcony with her Naani at the elderly woman’s insistence, which made her nervous since she was unsure what her grandmother wanted to talk about.

“Something seems to be bothering you beta, what is it?” her Naani asked, clearly telling something was bothering her granddaughter and unlike the Avengers, she was willing to lightly encourage her to speak of it.

Kamala wanted to keep quite but her Naani had come all the way from Karachi to help her and Aamir, Kamala knew she had tell her grandmother what was wrong, especially in the one spot she at least hoped Jarvis could not hear and the other Avengers still occupied.

“I’m scared Naani...so much is happening all at once and most it good so why do I feel scared? The thing that put me in this mess could be solved soon if Kaboom and whoever the other guy is talk that is half the battle right there…now if I can just get all the bad thoughts and dreams under control…” Kamala started to say, but stopped when realized what she was about to admit to.

“What bad thoughts beta? There no need to be scared, you can tell Naani,” The elderly woman assured her granddaughter, as said girl started to tremble as her emotions started to lose control.

“I…I almost did it again Naani…I almost killed someone on purpose! The one who killed them was right there at my feet and all I had to do was finish it and I…wanted to so bad! One shot was all it would take and if Sheikh Abdullah had not made clear it was wrong choice I would have gone through with it! What is wrong with me?!” Kamala cried out, letting the tears flow and preparing for whatever harsh words or rejection her Naani was going give, but found herself in a hug instead.

“I already know beta, I spoke with him while you slept. That woman has hurt our family in ways I know must be tormenting you…but that is why you are here, to have help while you fight these feelings and the Sheikh said when you are ready, contact him and he will help as best he can alongside your therapy sessions. We won’t reject you for having a moment of weakness…but what else is bothering you beta? This felt more like…a redirection,” Kamala Naani asked, seeming to somehow see through her grandchild like she had seen her every day of her life, despite meeting her in person only a few times.

‘Is this an Ammi thing? So far both Naani and Ammi seem to figure out my secrets like I’m an open book!’ Kamala mentally screamed, feeling scared of what she had to admit. There was no way to hide from this woman.

“I…feel like I’m being prepared to leave but for some reason that terrifies me Naani…its like I’m being made to…to…” Kamala tried to say, but could not bear to say the words that felt like a betrayal to what family she had left.

“Home?” her Naani said with ease that shook Kamala’s world, yet the woman showed no anger as this. Only understanding which for some reason hurt more than anger or rejection.

“But you and Aamir are my…” Kamala started say, but was hushed by Naani before began speaking again.

“We are your family, a portion of it at least, but home is where you feel you belong. We will be always here for you, but those people in there know the world you live in while Aamir and I can standby and be there when you need us. There is no shame in growing your family beyond us, to having a home away from us. Your Ammi did that when she and your Abu moved to America and I still cared for her same as I did when she still lived in the building as I did,” her Naani countered, throwing Kamala off at the point of view though it still did not resolve the swirling emotions within.

“But they are making me apart of the intern program once I don’t feel so messed up in the head! I should feel like I’m getting the best of both worlds, I would be seeing them all the time so why am I feeling like I’m being thrown out!” Kamala sobbed into her Naani’s shoulder, who just gently stroked her head, neither noticing one Avenger was watching from the shadows as always while the others were busy with either their punishments or sorting out the business what is to come over the next few days.

‘Kam you silly girl, you really need to stop hiding or running away,’ Natasha thought sadly as she left before she got noticed. It looked like she needed work on some plans that should help their young protégé.

-

“Well Osborn, it looks like you were right about the girl having promise…but now we lost both Kaboom and Kamran! I might as well cut my losses and take who I have before one of them speak on the plan to gather soldiers for the Kree Empire!” Hala hissed in frustration at the idea losing on one good enough to replace the two she lost plus the others she could have tracked down!

“Or you could let them talk and take out the Avengers when they come to you. Your ship is well hidden in orbit and I have eyes on the tower at all times, you won’t be caught unaware and those you ‘convinced’ plus you’re normal solider should be able to overwhelm even the Avengers. Meanwhile I already been working on a means to attack Avengers Tower just for such a scenario, with them gone you can leave until things everyone’s guard lowers again and come back to replenish your losses and then some,” Osborn countered calmly, confusing the blue skinned woman.

“And what do you gain from all this?” Hala demanded, knowing her ‘partner’ was always looking out for his own interests.

“The same thing we already agreed on, Kree technology and knowledge on genetic engineering, both which will greatly aid my own research on the subject,” Norman answered calmly, though inwardly he adding anything he got from Stark’s own building plus Amadeus Cho’s nanites and anything he could learn from Peter’s DNA if all the young ‘heroes’ remaining at the tower.

“Very well, we will play it your way for now Osborn…this better work better then the riots you started in Ms. Marvel’s city!” Hala stated firmly, not wanting lose too much due to all this.

Meanwhile Harry had overheard all this and was torn, if he warned Peter about any of this his dad would be arrested for sure, but if didn’t his best friend could die probably going to help Ms. Marvel and the Avengers. Even without knowing of Peter’s new role as an intern, Harry could easily guess his best friend would either already be there do to his connection to Ms. Marvel or rush there once knew of the attack spread!

‘I need to do something…but what?’ Harry wondered as he snuck off, not wanting to risk getting caught after accidently overhearing all that.


	11. Avengers Interns Vs the Sinister Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala's one month of training to start becoming Ms. Marvel again has begun but the first week is so hard Natasha arranges an outing to boost Kamala's spirits by using Peter. The two are now trying to finally figure out what they are to each other when the bulk of Spider-Man's greatest foes arrive to cause havoc.
> 
> Alone Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel won't be enough, its time for the Avengers Interns to assemble!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this out and have begun the Peter X Kamala stuff! Hoping I will the story finished before Christmas but if not we might have a late holiday shoutout. please let me know what you think in the comments or if you want to hear about some of my future ideas.

Chapter 11: Avengers Inters VS the Sinister Six

Kamala moaned on the couch, laying perfectly still as her whole body ached from completing the first week of her probation/punishment for leaving the tower to fight Kaboom to save Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah.

The stress testing of her powers had been tough, pushing her body to its current limits in ways Kamala would not had tried in Jersey, as she would have been constantly been looking over her shoulder to even try and do it let alone focus on maintaining the lengths or sizes she was pushing for. It hurt…a lot!

“Please tell me that this reserved only for punishments because this is one of the worse weeks of my life…if not the worse one!” Kamala whined as she prayed the pain killers Natasha was giving her would help.

“Well it certainly won’t need to be a weeklong exercise, that was for data gathering purposes. Such things are more for an update on your development, so once or twice a year at most and will be done for a day as a sort of ‘checkup’,” Natasha assured the brunette, while helping Kamala sit up to take the medicine.

“Cap did tell you this would make the other three weeks look easy…thought after going over all the various things I saw in the simulation room Medusa showed me, you are in for some real workouts…wonder what I need to do to let that woman near me the tech that runs that thing?” Tony explained, though near the end deliberately commented about training to push a few of Kamala’s buttons much to Natasha’s annoyance.

“I’ll ask her for you, just don’t kill me!” Kamala cried out in fear, which was the final button that was needed to set Natasha off since Tony just laughed at this.

“Stark…you and me in the hall…now!” the Black Widow growled, causing Tony to gulp as he tried to think of an escape but noted Thor cut off accesses to the balcony and Hawkeye and Hulk moved in different direction down the hall to probably make sure the billionaire could not go too far from where Natasha wanted to ‘talk’.

“You guys know I could put a good word with Cap for...owowowow! Has the Sheikh being giving you lessons on this?!” Tony started to say, but was cut off by Natasha grabbing him by the ear and dragging him towards the hall.

Kamala was trying to figure out what just happened, but the her sore body made processing impossible so just went back to waiting for the painkillers to kick in. Peter meanwhile had noticed Natasha giving him the hand signal for the go ahead for the plan they had talked about the day Kamala spoke with her Naani in private.

‘Steve is still in New Attilan going over next week’s plans with Queen Medusa, so guess it make sense go for it now,’ Peter concluded as he put his mask back on and glanced at Thor who acknowledged he saw the signal as well.

“Up for some air Kamala? It might help,” Peter suggested, getting a groan which Peter still took as a yes and started helping Kamala up again, ignoring the glare she gave him.

As the two teens walked outside to the balcony, Kamala finally spoke up, “Spidey I know your trying to help but I’m really sore and tired so can I please go back to lying down?”

“Nope, got my orders so hang on!” Spider-Man stated with pleasant tone, which almost had Kamala asking what he meant until he picked her up and jumped off the building. Kamala obviously started screaming in terror and wrapped her arms around his neck until the sound webbing was heard and the two started swinging off away from the tower.

“Spidey what the heck are you doing?! The Avengers are going to kill me for leaving!” Kamala screamed at her friend, who she could just feel the grin he was giving her through his mask.

“But you did not leave, I kidnapped you, entirely different situation. Now hush while I carry you off to my evil lair mawawhahaha!” Spider-Man joked, making Kamala wish she could smack him upside the head but she did not want to know if her healing would let her survive the possible fall if that made him drop her or they crashed.

Several minutes later they were on the roof a restaurant and Spider-Man told her wait there while he got them dinner, under threat of putting her in a web if she was not there when he got back. This of course just made Kamala roller her eyes at this, if she went off her own it would need to be done with her powers being used and that would only attract more attention the her friend dragging her here.

‘What the heck where his ‘orders’ that made him drag me out of the tower like this and where the heck are we? It smells good but what is he…’ Kamala mentally grumbled until Spider-Man came back with two to go plastic containers, each holding gyros and fries.

“Pretty sure you said you liked extra white sauce right?” Spider-Man asked, handing her one of the containers and then half lifting his mask so he could eat.

Kamala blinked at this and realized…was this some kind of cheer her up after a rough week attempt? Well that was Peter for you, sweet in his own weird way.

The two sat down on the roof to eat in peace, though Kamala realized this was the first time she had been alone with Peter in awhile, though the first thing she wanted to ask him was defiantly a mood killer.

“Spidey…I know this might be hard to talk about but can you…tell me what happened after I got knocked out by Kaboom? I’ve been scared to contact Sheikh Abdullah after what happened and kind of hoping maybe it is not as bad my imagination has me thinking it went.

She knew her Naani had said he was actually waiting on her to contact him, but Kamala still felt both terrified and ashamed to do so, she had been willing to murder someone right in front of the man and was the reason he got hurt. It felt…wrong to speak with him after doing all that.

Spider-Man actually took this question with ease, like he was expecting it and said, “Well to be honest the big thing that happened was…”

-

A week ago:

As Kamala hit the ground from a blast lightning hitting her from behind, Peter was livid. Kaboom would pay!

Spider-Man fired a web line at the wounded girl’s foot and dragged her across the ground to get within striking range. But as he raised his fist to smash Kaboom’s face in, an elderly hand grabbed his arm. The hand belonged to Sheikh Abdullah, who looked very serious as he spoke.

“In her current state that would kill her! If justice is to be served and Sister Marvel’s good name restored, that woman must live to answer for it all!” The elderly man stated firmly, which at least calmed Spider-Man’s furry enough to know the man was right.

“Right…plus there are far more dangerous ones to deal with anyway,” Spider-Man agreed thought with some reluctance and fired webbing at Kaboom to keep her pinned to the ground, before turning his attention to the other two kidnappers while Nikia ran to Kamala’s side.

“So you two plan on coming along peacefully or do I need to drag you the Avengers kicking and screaming? Please say you want the kick and scream option!” Spider-Man growled as he moved closer, both boys getting up from the attack emitter Kamala used.

“Your assuming you can take us!” The glowing one stated as he and the one in armor got back to their feet, the glowing reaching for a rock on the ground and charged it. But just as he started to throw his weapon, Spider-Man countered by firing a web shot that struck the object and made it stick the glowing one’s chest.

“Shit!” the one in armor called out as he created a tower shield to protect himself while the glowing one’s eyes widen in horror just before the explosion went off.

As the smoke cleared the glowing one now looked like a normal person and was out cold, clearly his powers being active was what gave him the glow over it being an Inhuman who had been permanently altered appearance wise when having the powers awakened.

The one in armor meanwhile had been pushed back so much he had left skid marks in the ground, but his shield had held long enough to ride out the explosion, though he looked around and started weighing his options…until the sounds of barking could be heard.

As all those still conscious turned to look, Nikia was the one recognize the giant bulldog from when the Inventor attacked her school.

“Of course she has a pet as weird as she is!” Nikia exclaimed as the bog began chasing after the one in armor, but the boy quickly created one of his teleportation circle to escape, while Spider-Man webbed up the second criminal so he could not escape if he woke up before help arrived.

Once his second prisoner was secured, Spider-Man rushed to Kamala’s side, who was already being helped by Sheikh Abdullah and Nikia as best they could under the circumstances. As far they could tell, she was out cold but alive but how much damage did she take from that attack?

Spider-Man fortunately knew something did not, Kamala’s nullifier had the means to contact the Avengers…assuming they were still not radio silent. So the web slinger opened up the panel and spoke into it saying, “Cap? Mr. Stark? Anyone? Two of three attackers are down and the hostages are safe, but Ms. Marvel is injured and out cold!”

For a moment there was no reply, but soon the voice of Captain America spoke out, “We are ten minutes away Spider-Man, stay with her and the hostages!”

This made a three people breathe a sigh of relief, while Lockjaw came to Kamala side and whimpered as the giant dog lie down near her head and look to Spider-Man. He easily guessed what the dog wanted and with Nikia’s help they got Kamala leaned up against his soft warm body over the dirt and rocks of the ground.

Once the quinjet arrived, Thor and Hulk rushed out to secure Kaboom and the one who glowed, while Captain America and Black Widow helped get Kamala onto the jet while Iron Man was using his armor’s scanners to confirm her status.

“She will be okay right?” Nikia asked, worried for her friend after being forced to fight the one killed her parents plus the injuries from said battle.

“She is in rough shape but should be alright once we get her back to the tower. Clearly Kaboom was not in any condition to really bring her best but still got a solid hit…Widow make sure you question the other one first, give little miss lightning rod a chance to heal enough to survive your ‘talk’ with her,” Iron Man told the other teenage girl, the Sheikh gently placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

“Oh I have much worse things in mind to get both of them to talk Tony…since S.H.I.E.L.D. is iffy right now, I’m think Medusa could hold them for us. I’m certain she will be wanting a chat with them long before my turn happens,” Black Widow stated coldly, getting muffled and weak protests from the webbed up Kaboom as she was the only one awake of the pair. She clearly knew facing the Queen of the Inhumans was not a thing anyone who had been kidnapping other Inhumans would not end well.

To back this up, Lockjaw growled at Kaboom, the tuning fork on his head glowing lightly. Clearly he was more than ready to make the delivery at a moment’s noticed.

“Good dog,” Black Widow and Iron Man said at the same time, while Captain America finished securing Kamala to a seat.

As Spider-Man got on board though, he made sure to never take his eyes off the wounded girl. He had come at Riri and Amadeus’ request to save the hostages in Ms. Marvel’s place if she could not make it or back her up if she did arrive. He had failed at both, given her current state.

“Some ‘squad mate’ I am!” Spider-Man whispered, not noticing Nikia or Sheikh Abdullah sitting down next to him for their ride back to their homes.

“Squad mate?” Nikia asked in confusion, getting a small laugh from the Sheikh, having a small bit of understanding from his regular talks with Kamala through video chat. He could tell the girl was avoiding brining up the source of the nickname she often referred to certain members of the Avengers.

“Some sort of shared hobby I’m guessing from Sister Kamala’s talks with me, Sister Nikia” the Sheikh explained before looking at the boy more seriously.

“Now…what exactly is your relation to Sister Kamala?” The elderly Sheikh demanded, making it clear he was getting repeat of the talk he had with Cap after the stark expo and was looking for help out of this situation, no one but Captain America seemed to be paying attention though.

“We already this talk, so a little help?” Spider-Man asked, just getting a response of Cap crossing his arms as if waiting to hear Spider-Man’s answer. This of course made Spider-Man gulp and look to the Sheikh and the second teenager who was glaring at him.

“We are just friends…just friends…” Spider-Man replied, the second time was more like he was trying to convince himself, getting a raised eyebrow from Nikia but shockingly a chuckle form the Sheikh.

“Ah I did notice she seemed…unusual…when speaking about you in our talks, like she is sorting her feelings out. It seems you both are doing so…dating as you know it is not how our culture works though Sister Kamala never has been traditional, respectful of our beliefs yes, but I do see her being one who would bend the rules…but if you hurt her pray it is one of those big brutes over there get to you first because they will be far more merciful then I will be!” Sheikh Abdullah warned while gesturing to Hulk and Thor, who both started cracking their knuckles, making Spider-Man gulp and Nikia gasp.

“Sheikh Abdullah you would allow such a thing?!” Nikia gasped, being more traditional then her friend.

The Sheikh just raised an eye brow at this and smiled while saying, “My job is to teach the rules, not to force them upon a believer. And given how given how Sister Kamala is, can you see her not dating if she was interested in someone?”

Nikia was unsure how to answer this and Cap looked like he was about to say something but Natasha elbowed him to keep his silence.

Spider-Man meanwhile just looked back and forth between the sheikh and the girl he had to admit he kind of liked. He just was never able to talk to her about what happened at the expo or any of the times they might have been unsure of what they were to each other. He and Kamala were defiantly just friends during the Bilderberg operation, though he did guess that was also where it began at the same time.

‘We connected over our stories and from there it slowly grew. Was it the dance where it truly began or maybe the Stark Expo? A lot of little moment seem like it could be the start of when I began to see her differently…heck I was ready to fight Black Widow when I heard she slapped Kamala just days after meeting her!’ Spider-Man thought, trying to figure out when he started feeling like this. Did not help Cap tried to scare him off once, so that was throwing off trying narrow things down.

All the young did know was he liked Kamala, but what did she feel towards him? Sheikh Abdullah made it clear Kamala was confused as well but was she coming to the same conclusion of finding a different answer.

This made Spider-Man know he needed to talk to Kamala alone sometime soon, no Avengers to make wise cracks…or crack him if Cap’s mild warning glares were any in indication.

He had no idea Black Widow would supply that moment in hope of helping Kamala with her own issues of being scared of being ‘thrown out’ in the coming days.

-

“Sheikh Abdullah actually said that to you?! I’m so sorry Spidey I’m sure he was only…” Kamala started to say but was stopped by Spider-Man holding his hand up.

“I…I think he brought up a good point Ms. M…what are we? We friends? Future teammates? More? The expo had me do and say things that probably started something we never did get a chance to talk about…mainly because Cap told me to ‘make wise choices’ afterwards…he is scary when protecting his student,” Spider-Man replied, making Kamala go through mix of confusion of what her friend was asking and a bit of anger that Cap would intimidate him like that. True she noted her mentor had taken on a parental role to a degree, though unlike with Pepper, Steve grew into the role rather than doing it right away so it did not feel like an ‘invasion’ to Kamala…probably helped that Steve had a kind ‘Dad’ feel to him by his very nature.

“I…don’t know Spidey…I’m new to whatever we are…I would like to find out though. The only problem is, that last person I had similar feelings toward like this was Bruno and look how that ended,” Kamala said nervously both from finally admitting she did feel something towards Peter but also about bringing up Bruno who did at times make feel strange such as when he was listing the good things about her after getting shot by his brother at the Circle Q days after getting her powers.

‘Ah yes, Bruno…still need to hang him upside down from the top of the Empire State building for making her cry…how bad do I have of…whatever the heck this feeling is? Crush? Love? Something in between?’ Spider-Man thought, while taking Kamala’s hand, who blushed at this.

“Well unlike him I’m a superhero as well, you guys had a fallout because he got a lot closer to the stuff this life brings then he was ready for…I meanwhile have been a glutton for punishment. I think we can at least avoid the worst case scenario and still have each other’s back even if the couple thing is not what we are looking for,” Spider-Man told his friend…girlfriend?

“That is one way to say ‘We can still be friends’ but I think I would like to see where this leads if you are,” Kamala replied with a small laugh while both seemed agree to this…and just they start to lean closer, the sounds of police sirens fill the air and both see several speed by.

Both let out an annoyed growl while Kamala called out, “Universe…FUDGE OFF!”

Peter grumbled an agreement as he activated a holo screen built into his web shooters now that he had accesses to new resources at an intern. As an Avengers Intern he had report in when he did something now, much to his annoyance but he could not argue the perks were helping as well.

After a few seconds, Captain Marvel appeared on the screen, the blonde just smirking as she said, “Need an assist keeping Mini Me in line?”

“If I was giving him trouble I would calling for someone to help peel him off a wall or roof, not him calling for an assist,” Kamala grumbled while Spider-Man shook his head and smirked at this but then pulled his the lower half of his mask down and said, “No got a lot of sirens going by my location, I want to go check it out but since I’m with Ms. Marvel and she got three weeks minimum before being allowed to doing the hero thing and we do got at least one of the trio still out there as well…”

Captain Marvel’s expression got serious at hearing this and seemed to quickly be looking something up before saying, “Yeah…it’s sadly one of yours to, from what I’m seeing its Rhino…I don’t want to leave Ms. Marvel unprotected but don’t want to leave the police hanging either so…Ms. Marvel head in with Spider-Man but stick to the roofs while he engages. I’ll clear Iron Heart and Amadeus for an emergency deployment since this is a living tank we are dealing with.”

“Um…does this mean I stick to the roofs even when they get here or do I go down after that?” Kamala asked, feel genially confused since even those two were not supposed to do field work but her situation were not exactly the same given she was officially still classified as mentally unsound for doing superhero work.

Captain Marvel flinched at this and gave Kamala sad look as she replied, “Sorry kiddo need you still hang back unless I specifically give you the order to move in. You just finished a week of stress testing your powers, probation or not that is not an ideal situation to be going into a fight plus not sure what kind of painkillers Widow gave you or how you’re healing factor might be dealing with them.”

Kamala looked pained at hearing this but at least it was not the worse reasons and just nodded in acceptance at this call from Intern Adviser. Kamala quickly wrapped her arms around Spider-Man and let them web swing to the location.

Both teens saw said super villain easily shrugging off bullets and officers with ease, making Kamala gulp and ask, “And you fought that alone? If I ever get a crack the Big Man or is it Tombstone…whatever his name is, I going to Embiggen smash him though every wall in his own building for creating that!”

“I wish it was that easy, I tried stopping him when I first learned of the ‘Big Man’ and all it got me was a one sided fight that would have ended me if he wanted to. Stay here and hopefully the others will be here soon…can’t wait to introduce Rhino to Amadeus!” Spider- Man replied, before jumping down to face off with his overly large foe.

Meanwhile Kamala noticed her own built in comm. in the new version of her bracelet was going off and she guessed it was either Captain Marvel asking for an update or her soon to be teammates giving an eta. To her surprise the holo screen it projected showed it was Natasha with a concerned look on her face.

“How are you holding up Ms. Marvel? Sorry to put you in this situation, I gave Webs the go ahead thinking it would let you unwind, not get stuck watching him go head to head with a super villain,” Natasha explained with a sad expression on her face.

“So you’re the one to give him his ‘orders’…what was the goal because I think we might have finally had a moment to…talk…” Kamala started to say, though her attention seemed to be drawn to the battle below and was quickly going from worried to terrified as she watched.

“Ms. Marvel?” Natasha asked, trying to figure what was might be happening in the battle when a humming sound was heard and all of a sudden something smashed into Kamala from behind and sent her flying to the streets below.

The next thing Kamala knew was she was being helped up by Spider Man and they were staring six villains; Doctor Octopus, Rhino, Sandman, Electro, Vulture and…Shocker. While Kamala was still staring in shock and fear at the sight of that last members of the six, Natasha was still calling out for what was happening on her communicator, which Spider-Man took Kamala by the wrist and said to the screen “Trouble! Help now!”

“Long time no see brat! Have you learned any respect since the last time we met?” Shocker mocked, though his tone clearly held anger and hatred toward the ‘heroine’ who tried to kill him with fire.

Before Kamala could speak though, Spider-Man called out, “After what you did to her and the Khans, don’t act like you are the victim! Pray I don’t do much worse to you…or you for tackling her Vulture!”

‘Guess that explains how I got down here,’ Kamala thought as she took a step back and to the side as if partly hiding behind her friend…boyfriend? She was unsure, all she knew was she could not face Shocker right now and Spider-Man was actively challenging said villain with ease. It would feel kind of sweet if she was not in such a tough spot right now.

“Oh…has the arachnid found a partner perhaps?” Doctor Octopus asked mockingly, getting snickers from the other villains, at least until two women, one of which Kamala knew as well as Peter.

“Ladies you may wish to stand aside,” Doctor Octopus requested as Peter’s Aunt May and a reluctant Anna Watson stood between the two super teens and the group of super villains.

“And let you attack these young people, I think not!” Aunt May declared, but before she could continue a pair of massive hands grabbed her and Anna and moved them towards the theater doors behind them.

“Think I hear the show starting, better get to your seats ladies!” Kamala said as Spider-Man fired a web line to open the theater door and Kamala stretched her arms into the building to place them gently inside.

Upon Spider-Man webbing the door shut, Kamala whispered, “She is as crazy as we are!”

“Here is hoping that is the reason and she still doesn’t know!” Spider-Man replied under his breath, just before the mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus grabbed him from behind while Kamala got hit from behind with a familiar shockwave that sent her flying through the glass doors of the theater.

Aunt May moved to help Kamala but girl shook her head and said, “Please get to safety!”

Just as Kamala said that though, a hand made of sand reached into the theater and dragged her back outside while Doctor Octopus callout, “Yes, run along now ladies.” The pair finally rushed further into the theater, if for no other reason than to allow the you heroes to focus more on their attacker and less on them.

Back outside there was a short round of Shocker and Elector both calling out pull and competing for who could hit one of the two teen heroes, fortunately for Kamala Electro’s attack was focused on Spider-Man and it was Shocker that blasted her so she at least Embiggen after she slammed into a building and then fell on to a nearby car roof…after taking a few seconds heal the damage to her back and ribs.

“I did not miss this part of the job!” Kamala groaned, shrinking to the size of a bug to dodge a second shot from Shocker, before returning to normal size and tried to get into the air by grabbing a lamp post her out stretched arm and launch into the air.

“How could you not miss the bruising and concussions?” Spider-Man quipped, jumping over a charging Rhino and tried to web swing into the air as well, both were having the same idea. Get off the ground and try to deal with one attacker at a time but Vulture slashed Spider-Man’s back with his wings tearing the back of his costume and a small bit of blood to start coming down his back.

“Spidey!” Kamala screamed out and in her rage enlarged her fist in preparation to knock the flier from the sky when a blast of electricity struck her from behind curtsey from Electro which had her hit the ground hard as her cells temporally lost their elastic nature.

“Ms. Marvel!” Spider-Man called out, his own rage building and fired a web line to grab a spot on the ground next to Electro and pull himself down toward the villain with intent to smash his electrified face in. Spider-Man had originally planned to ground Vulture, but the young hero needed to both help his friend and make the one who hurt her pay!

But just as Spider-Man got within striking distance, Doctor Octopus snatched him out of the air with his robotic arms and slammed him into the ground, before tossing the young man into the air for Sandman to turn his arms into a baseball bat so to swing at Spider-Man like he was the ball and send him flying into a building with a loud crash.

As he hit the ground, Kamala was sent flying next to him thank to Rhino grabbing one of her legs and throwing at the building with as much force as he could muster. This left both heroes weakened pretty badly, even Kamala’s healing factor could not keep up from the constant punishment unless they could get the pressure off soon.

“Shocker and Electro let’s not take any chances and finish them off before they have a chance to recover or think of an escape method,” Doctor Octopus instructed, both range attackers getting into position.

“Two brats that have been a pain in my behind for the price of one, you can’t ask for more!” Shocker declared in his Texan accent, while both he and Electro charged up their attacks to fire, but just as they let loose said attacks a giant green figure landed in front Kamala and Spider-Man from both the electricity and shockwaves. As the dust cloud from attack cleared, everyone could see Amadeus being the one to take the hit for his teammates.

“You’re late!” Kamala grumbled weakly, hoping her healing factor would finish up so she could get back to her feat, while Spider-Man was slowly doing so while adding in, “I’ve been a terrible influence on you!”

“Not my fault you guys could not handle a few super villains!” Amadeus joked, while soon the sound a repulsor blasts filled the air and struck Vulture with a barrage!

“Oh yes it’s their fault six escape convicts that could go one on one with either one of them beat them up while it was a three to one advantage!” Iron Heart called out, her blasts easily overwhelming Vulture’s defenses and sending him crashing to the ground.

“What is this?! Since when do you work with others?!” Doctor Octopus demanded, while the other villains started getting nervous at the changing odds.

“What being with my girlfriend you don’t bat an eyelash but you start freaking out when I start showing I have friends beyond her?” Spider-Man called back, while helping Kamala back to her feet, everyone staring at him at actually declaring Ms. Marvel was his girlfriend.

“You better not be joking about that!” Kamala whispered as she leaned on Spider-Man for support, though she was looking a lot better now that she has had a chance to heal, plus her spirits were being boosted by both the arrival their friends and Spider-Man’s declaration.

“I’d kiss you to prove it but rather save that for a better time than in front those guys…or Cho…Riri is not so bad but we both know Amadeus is an ass!” Spider-Man replied, the smirk practically radiating through the mask while Amadeus rolled his eyes.

“Are we here for a bad romance scene or are we here to pound some bad guys?” Amadeus asked, cracking his knuckles while Iron Heart landed next to her teammates, her helmet opening up to show a concerned expression on her face.

“Are either of you up for another round? Heck Ms. Marvel got dragged into this before she even had a chance to rest after all the testing they did this week!” Iron Heart asked, noting Kamala black version of the lightning bolt t shirt and the grey sweat pants were getting a bit torn up from the battle. She had been dressed for training, not for actual combat.

“Now that I’m healed, I might be able to hold off one of them though doubt I can handle a double team, ” Kamala replied, though she clearly was scared if she looked towards Shocker, the other three interns knew he was not the one for her if she did hold off a villain.

“I’ll take Shocker and Electro, Iron Heart can you handle Vulture and Doc Ock? If Amadeus can deal with Rhino quickly he can back either of us up while Ms. Marvel handles Sandman,” Spider-Man ordered, taking the temporary lead since he knew it was still up in the air on who was the official field leader.

“But your hurt, how can you fight two…” Kamala started to say, when a familiar flash of light was scene and the giant bulldog that was Lockjaw appeared before the group growling at the six sinister villains.

“Looks like I’m not alone…unless you want the giant dog’s help Iron Heart,” Spider-Man joked, before looking at said dog while pointing at Shocker.

“See him, he is the one who helped kill the Khans and cause Ms. Marvel all this trouble…what do we do to those kind people boy?” Spider-Man asked Lockjaw, whose growls became even more intense as his attention was not solely focused at the yellow quilted villain, who let out an audible gulp while Kamala let herself grin evilly for once.

“Sick him Lockjaw!” both Kamala and Spider-Man ordered at the same time, this being the signal for the team to jump into action, the fight now being much more even, especially since Vulture’s suite was not built to handle the energy blasts from Iron Heart’s repulsers, forcing him to be downed and further drop the group of villains’ moral with both the numerical advantage and air superiority lost plus Shocker pinned by Lockjaw.

“We must retreat, we did not plan on this being a team on team battle!” Doctor Octopus called out to the remaining members of his group, though noted Rhino was in a deadlock Amadeus as both tried to overpower the other.

So far the Sandman was proving to be able to handle the tired Ms. Marvel since his sand like nature made her physical strikes not effective, but her ability to ability to change her size of her fists to hit as much as much of his body possible per strike still forced him to take a few seconds to reform and then counter attack. Meanwhile Electro was difficult for Spider-Man to attack directly but he was still keeping Electro busy while Iron Heart began her concentrated attack himself with Vulture grounded.

“You think we are going to let you get away! Not happening!” Iron Heart called down as she destroyed one of Doctor Octopus’ arms with her blasters, proving to be impossible to for him to attack with both her flight speed and greater range.

Just as it seemed the Intern Avengers were about to defeat more than half of their foes, a barrage of pumpkin bombs struck the theater, modified to create less of a blast and more of a blaze upon impact.

This caused both sides to cease fighting as the Green Goblin flew onto the scene, cackling like a mad man before calling out, “So what will you choose young ‘heroes’? Stop the fire or stop the villains…choose wisely! I heard a woman inside suffered a heart attack during the battle, it would be a shame the soon to be arriving responders could not get to her in time!”

This made both Kamala and Spider-Man go wide eyed, thinking it could be anyone who had the heart attack…including Aunt May! Plus even if it was someone else, they could not let the fight draw out and force the people in the ambulance wait longer then they had to.

“Guys we got to help make sure everyone gets out the building! Lockjaw go with Spidey to find the woman and get her out here!” Kamala called out, while at the same time Doctor Octopus was telling his team to retreat…only to stop when the boy in black armor that escaped during the battle with Kaboom.

“Since your enemies have a teleporter, why not make things fair and bring my own to help?” Green Goblin explained with a bow, while the Interns scrambled to try and avoid anyone from getting killed by the fire, though Lockjaw gave Shocker one last menacing growl before going help Spider-Man to find the heart attack victim.

-

Inside the theater Spider-Man and Lockjaw darted past the few remaining people still inside, clearly the battle had made people already come to the conclusion to evacuate. This was backed up by Iron Heart contacting him by his communicator and said she can scanned the building and detected only a small number of life signs, three being up ahead.

“Please don’t be Aunt May!” Spider-Man whispered and he entered the stage area of the theater and saw a person in a costume and Anna Watson. This filled Spider-Man with dread he got closer to see who was on the ground, the very woman he had prayed was not the victim.

“Iron Heart what is the eta on that ambulance? I found the heart attack victim and can teleport her right the hospital and free them up to help the others here,” Spider-Man said into his wrist communicator, releasing he might have chosen a better method for the device but the current one was more of a rush job after getting drafted into the intern program.

“It’s at least 8 minutes out so might be a good idea, I’m contacting the hospital now to tell them you’re coming,” Iron Heart replied, just before the building shook again.

“Dam it! Goblin just gave us parting gift before he and the armor guy teleported the other villains away!” The voice of Iron Heart yelled out, just as Spider-Man was forced to do his best stop any falling debris from hitting his Aunt, though as he caught a stage light, a large pieces of wood from the rafter smacked him in the head causing small rips in the red fabric and destroying one of the white lenses over his right eye.

“Are you alright young man?” Anna asked as Spider-Man, while Lockjaw came to his side.

“I…I’m…fine…lets go Lockjaw we need to get her out of here…you two should leave as well I’ll make sure she gets treatment,” Spider-Man instructed as he put the light down and shook off the blow to his head, before gently picking up his Aunt in one arm and touched Lockjaw with other to teleport away.

-

Half an hour later the other three interns were doing their best to help keep the crowds back while fire fighters battle the damage Green Goblin inflicted when the quinjet arrived and the Avengers came down to provide assistance…including Captain America which made Kamala gulp loudly while the other two interns gave her sympathetic looks.

Though to their shock the Captain simply came up to the trio and asked, “Any other incidents besides the heart attack?”

“None that we know of sir!” Iron Heart responded, a bit more formal then normal due to the probation being on everyone’s mind.

“Good, now you three head for the quinjet and rest, we will sort out any final issues before we head back to the tower. When we arrive Ms. Marvel, we will use this as the example on how to fill out a mission report, it will also let us…streamline…the need to go over things twice,” The Captain instructed, clearly meaning he wanted to know why she was out here though at least he did not seem mad.

“Yes sir!’ Kamala managed to squeak out though her mentor just stared at her and replied, “At ease soldier, we will worry about details later.”

This did not do much to help relieve Kamala’s fears even though she knew Cap was always up front with her on things if he was upset with her. All she could do was wait until they got back to the tower and find out how bad things were when she was technically out without permission.

‘Here is hoping I can avoid brining up Natasha was the reason…or the talk me and Pete had because I think Steve is not exactly happy with the idea of us hooking up…Peter and I might need to talk with him now that we decided to see how things will go as a couple,” Kamala thought as she got aboard the quinjet, only to have a pair of arms wrap around her and making her realize Nikia was here.

“N-Nikia what are you…” Kamala started to ask but fell silent when she realized her best friend was not the only one from Jersey present, Sheikh Abdullah was sitting next to Spider-Man and Lockjaw as if waiting for her.

“Sister Nikia I would suggest not doing that so close to the ramp, just in case the reporters have already gathered outside. It could put Sister Marvel’s secret at risk if people wondered why you seem so close to her,” The Sheikh warned, making Nikia let go and mutter and apology before gesturing for her friend to come further inside.

Kamala hesitantly sat down, still thinking Sheikh Abdullah would be displeased with her for almost giving in to her desire for revenge. It was a miracle Nikia was willing to hug her, given how terrified her best friend was of her during that moment!

As Kamala sat down, she noted the damage to Peter’s mask and asked as means to slow the coming conversation with the Sheikh, “You okay Spidey?”

“Yeah…Iron Man gave me a quick scan after I got the…woman who tried to help us…to the hospital and contacted these two with Lockjaw. Says I should be okay, since no signs of a concussion though as you can guess I think I’ll…be staying at the tower at least tonight, just to be safe,” Spider-Man replied, his usual energy and cheerfulness gone and its place a more sad tone though still at least trying to be friendly. He clearly was being careful about saying anything that would compromise his secret in front of the two non heroes.

“Don’t blame you Web Head after what Iron Heart mentioned while we handled the crowds outside…she got some stuff you might want to see, your ‘friend’ from the Bugle was busy. We got to deal with him so Jameson can stop slandering you!” Amadeus said as he reverted to his human form and sat across from the gathering group.

“Parker is just trying to help pay the bills, if not him a different photographer would just be doing it anyway,” Spider-Man replied, both speaking in ‘code’ to avoid linking Spider-Man and Peter Parker. Clearly either Amadeus and Riri must have taken pictures for him so he could snag a paycheck from the Bugle but did not like what Jameson did with the photos.

“You know the one who take those pictures that well?” Nikia asked, only starting to learn anything about the New York based hero given his connection to her best friend.

“Yeah, ran into him after he won the prize money for that first photo. His family ran into hard times and needed the money so tried helping out by giving him tips of where I was so he could get more…at first I was hoping it would help give people hope but given Jameson’s stance on me, we both come to the conclusion it will be up to the reader what they believe of my actions and it at least keeps his family going if nothing else,” Spider-Man explained, though both he and Kamala noticed the Sheikh giving him a knowing look that Nikia did not notice.

“Be that as it may, this Mr. Parker needs to find a better employer, but that is a matter for another time…I believe Sister Marvel has a far more pressing matter given I can see she is scared despite the battle being over,” Sheikh Abdullah responded, clearly seeing through both teens and have both Kamala and Peter make eye contact as if going ‘How does he do that?!’

After taking moment to shake off the shock the Sheikh seeing through yet another disguise, Kamala hesitantly said without looking to the elderly man and her eyes tightly shut, “I’m sorry…it’s just after what I almost did I… if you had not been there I…”

Before she could finish though, she felt the hand of the Sheikh on her shoulder and she slowly opened her eyes to see a gentle yet sad smile on his face.

“True you almost gave into that rage she had cursed you with since that night, but what matters is you did stop yourself. I might have been there to be to help you realize the mistake but you still had the choice and you chose wisely. Under such emotions and with her ‘allies’ pushing you, you had the option and motivation take the easy path yet you still turned your back on it despite the possible cost,” Sheikh Abdullah reassured his young charge while nursing the large bandage on the side of his neck, putting at least Kamala fears at easy and at least now only have her worries about Steve remaining.

“Thank you!” Kamala said as she gently embraced her elder, who just chuckled at what he thought was a young child over thinking his words as some form of forgiveness, though given the rollercoaster that has been Kamala’s life, Abdullah could not blame her for being prepared for some kind of terrible outcome no matter how unlikely.

A short while later the Avengers returned and prepared for takeoff while Iron Man called to their passengers, “Okay people, we are going to be busy when we get back to the tower, it’s a three weeks sooner than planned but Cap and I are going to officially announce the Avengers Intern program and that means you better get suited up Stretch! Pajamas, I got something you might want as well given how your current suit is a bit beat up…sorry for sneaking a peak at your sketch book when you left it behind last time. We need you two looking presentable for the press!”

“Press?” Kamala asked in a tiny voice, thinking she must have heard Tony wrong. There was no way they wanted her there, she was still unfit for field work, the only reason she was in the battle was due to Vulture throwing her into it while Peter was trying to cheer her up under Natasha’s orders!

“Why do you think we are here Kamala? Mr. Stark asked us finally publicly say how you came to save us, we have been keeping silent at his request…something about wanting a month to help you feel more like your old self first,” Nikia explained, confusing Kamala even more.

“I was not told any of this…I know I was on probation for the month and they wanted to see if I was mentally fit for field work at the end of it, but I figured the news had not made a big deal of my ‘rescue’ mission…probably did not help I was kind of busy this week even if they had,” Kamala replied, trying to figure out why Tony would have them wait a month to mention they had been kidnapped to anyone not already close to them or that the ‘crazy girl’ saved them.

“What do you mean you saw my sketch book? I never brought…oh no!” Spider-Man groaned, now remembering he did have a ‘dream suit’ he been working on but figured it would be impossible to ever made. He would never have money for the materials or needed equipment to ever make it let alone confirm if the special weave of graphene and silk plus some carbon fiber to create a costume would be like armor but still light and flexible.

“It was not a bad idea once I got a good look at it, left the new tools you had planned alone since I figured you might want to fine tune those yourself but the suit, that thing is ready and we can put it through some light testing later plus we can make sure the stuff in the mask get’s synched up with the Avengers communication systems,” Iron Man stated with a smirk that could easily pictured despite his helmet being on.

“You built the whole…that thing is kind of out of my price range!” Spider-Man said with more energy than he had since finding out about his Aunt May.

“Oh yes because this thing I’m wearing can be covered by my allowance!” Iron Heart called over from her seat, gesturing to her Mark 2 armor.

As both teens tried to make sense of what was going on they noticed they were coming in for a landing in the tower hanger bay where Captain Marvel was waiting with two boxes and smirking. Clearly she knew what was about to happen as well.

“You got 5 minutes soldiers!” Captain America ordered and both potential field leaders exchanged a look that said, ‘What the heck is happening today?’ Both thought the weirdest thing to happen to them today was they decided to start dating and now they go from a super villain VS intern team battle, followed by getting thrown into the limelight!

-

Meanwhile Green Goblin and his new ‘friends’ were at makeshift base in a deserted warehouse in downtown New York. A staging ground for the slowly growing ‘gang’ of pumpkin mask wearing henchmen the Goblin was growing to face off against ‘Big Man’.

“Well gentlemen, it seems your plan while a good one seems to have hit a small snag…one that concerns me as well. So for those of you with connection to the ‘Big Man’ I call for a truce until said snag is dealt with before it becomes a threat to all of us!” Green Goblin suggested, Shocker clearly looking ready to start fighting him, though the others seemed neutral for the moment.

“I should blast you right here and now! The Big Man would probably give me a bonus if I leave your head intact enough to mount on his wall!” Shocker stated as he prepared to charge up his wrist gauntlets to fire, but was stopped by Doctor Octopus’ damaged robotic arm.

“I suggest we contact your employer first…Spider-Man has gotten in our way individuals and now that he may be part of a team he will only be more so. I proposed this alliance of the six of us under the assumption the Avengers were only contacts not outright allies that sent…whoever those other two where to assist him plus Ms. Marvel already at his side. A truce between Goblin and the Big Man would allow us remove several threats at once before we go about our personal agendas,” Otto Octavius suggested, the bulk of the ‘Sinister Six’ seeming to agree with this.

After a moment of thinking it over and the Green Goblin even providing a phone, an Shocker contacted Hammerhead for confirmation on the offer, one that would be the start of battle between the villains and heroes bigger than most present where aware of.


	12. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Avengers announce the existence of the intern program and help Peter face one of his worse fears, their enemies are slowly making preparations for the final battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this chapter done, just a setup chapter but the final battle should be soon! Please let me know what you think in the comments below or if you want to hear about several possible future stories.

Chapter 12 – Calm Before the Storm

“Months of wanting to be Ms. Marvel again and now I feel terrified at being in costume for a simple press conference!” Kamala complained as she came out in her actual Ms. Marvel attire. The only thing missing was her old bracelet, having opted to retire it from active use now that she had the replica from Tony.

The former item had been in her family for too long to risk, the memories of Shocker trying to deliberately destroy it at the warehouse replaying in her mind after encountering him a second time.

Kamala left the old bracelet with her clothes as she came out from behind some crates in the hanger bay and found Spider-Man in his new suit. It still followed the usual red and blue color scheme with black webbing but in place of small black spider on the chest was replaced a much larger white one, the same white material was also on his wrists and feet.

“If it helps I’m not exactly thrilled with this…though Peter Parker is going to be making a killing today if nothing else,” Spider-Man stated tiredly, clearly still worried about his Aunt plus being worn out from the battle.

“We are going to need to go over that later actually solider, see if we can work out a better solution to how you can help out Mr. Parker. As an intern you can’t willingly draw in a civilian into dangerous situations,” Captain America called over as he gestured for them to follow along with the group.

“Why is it everyone has issues with how I get a paycheck today?” Spider-Man mumbled just loud enough for Kamala to hear, who just patted him on the back while they moved to catch up with the group.

“Maybe Cap or Tony will give you some options if they want to talk to you about it? On the plus side the new suit looks good…what so expensive about it though? You seemed worried about that when Tony said he had it made,” Kamala asked as they walked down the halls towards the elevator.

“The materials alone are not something I could afford, white parts are made of a carbon fiber so that gives me some ‘armor’ and rest of the suite is made of weave of graphene and silk. In theory this suite could protect me from damage or at least mitigate it. On top of that it should in theory hide my scent and the mask has built in communications, radio, camera, and AR display. It’s why I nicknamed it the ‘Advanced Suite’ and that is without the new gadgets I had planned that Tony mentioned earlier,” Spider-Man explained, making Kamala get a small bit of ‘new costume envy’.

“If not for Hulk and Thor, I think I would be the most low tech person here!” Kamala grumbled, getting a raised eyebrow from Captain America. It took Kamala a few moments to realize he was implying nothing about him was tech based, despite the shield he carried being made of the one metal that could take hits from anything in the elevator and not get scratched.

Before Kamala could point this out though, Tony spoke up, “Any ideas for yourself Stretch?”

Kamala was unsure how to answer this, she could think of her weaknesses but how could she counter electricity that much or lessen the effect water had on the polymer? And in theory Peter’s about the material would help take the pressure off her healing factor, but that was his!

“I say give her something made of my suite’s materials if nothing else, assuming the super snot can still help it stay stretchy plus maybe a faraday lining?” Spider-Man suggested, getting a jab in the shoulder from Kamala at that last suggestion. She did not like her weakness being broadcasted like that.

“I can understand the first part, given how both of you prefer light and easy move in materials but why that last one? Something you want to tell us Ms. Marvel?” Captain America asked, suspecting Peter knew something they didn’t.

Kamala laughed nervously before shooting her boyfriend a dirty look and whispered, “This is payback for letting that secret slip out at the expo isn’t it?”

Spider-Man just whistled innocently at this though clearly if it had not been the reason before it was now, making Kamala get ready to jab him again but Embiggened fist this time. But before she could launch her attack, Black Widow took out one of her shock sticks and zapped the annoyed teen, making everyone see her fist shrink back down to normal.

“That’s why,” Black Widow stated with a smirk, making Kamala go red at the humiliation at her weakness now being demonstrated for all to see.

“Is there anything not in my S.H.I.E.L.D. file?!” Kamala demanded, trying to delay the oncoming questions, but sadly Cap managed to cut in knowing that was his student’s plan.

“Kamala…when were you going tell us a strong electric jolt can shut your powers down? That is critical information now that you’re on a team. You told Spider-Man, why not us?” Captain America asked, seeming almost hurt that his student would hide that from him, though he did also shoot Black Widow a glare for withholding that information as well.

“I…he told me a lot of his secrets so I kind of shared my own…it feels kind of embarrassing to admit a taser can take me down easier than a brawl with one of the Inventor’s giant robots could,” Kamala admitted, though she could also replace embarrassing with scary. Explaining how her main means of attack and defense taken out with ease was not something she liked sharing.

“There are far too many kinds of tools and weapons these days that use electricity in that way Kamala, without us knowing that we can’t help you possibly learn counter measures during your training sessions or like Spider-Man suggested, alter your costume help lessen the risk,” Steve explained calmly, clearly not mad but still clearly disappointed she had hid a weakness like that.

Kamala was unsure what to say given Cap was right, did not make it easier to talk about. She had always scene her weaknesses as a personal issue, being on a team was new to her so the idea of something that effected her also effected others was a concept she never had to consider.

“Easy Cap, the kid has told us now so once we are done in the lobby with the press, I say we take her into the conference room and go over how to do a post mission report and once that is done me and Pajamas her go over how to improve her costume…though probably better to make a new one if we want to use the graphene idea,’ Iron Man commented, helping ease the tension as best he could.

‘That’s right…if I did accept Peter’s offer to use the same material I could not just upgrade this costume, I need to make a new one…that means their final gift would be safe,’ Kamala thought as she touched the lightning bolt on her chest then looked to Spider-Man.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to use the material you thought up? I know you just want help but…” Kamala started say, but her boyfriend just put a finger to her lips to silence her…while Captain America raised an eyebrow at this while the other Avengers got the feeling a bit more than planned happened on the little mood boosting outing Black Widow planned.

“It will take some stress off your healing factor and I why would I keep it to myself when I got a teammate who could make equal use of it…lobby is coming up so how about we go over this some more after the report is done…since when do superheroes do mission reports anyway?” Spider-Man asked, getting an eye roll from Tony who pointed at Steve and it all made sense.

‘Great Captain Kill Joy is the reason I’m going to die by paper cut instead by super villain,’ Spider-Man thought, noting the looks Cap was giving him.

Spider-Man wanted to say something but the door opened and he knew it was show time for him and Kamala. There were far too many eyes from in the lobby on them for Spider-Man to have a chat with the Captain on the issue that was Kamala.

Iron Man took point at the stage that had been setup while the other Avengers stood at the back and the four interns were placed just in front of them, Lockjaw waiting off to the side with Sheikh Abdullah and Nikia.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I understand the situation in Times Square has probably had you confused so I called this conference to set those at ease,” Iron Man said calmly, knowing one particular ‘guest’ he made sure to invite to this gathering.

“Yes Stark, explain why that menace seems to have the constant support of the Avengers! More importantly why was SHE with him when she is almost as bad!” the voice of a man Spider-Man knew all too well, J Johan Jameson was here which made the young hero tense, but stop when he felt someone take his hand and see it was Kamala.

“Got your back Spidey,” Kamala whispered, though looked hurt at Jameson’s accusation of her which was the wrong thing to do in the presence of several Avengers.

Thor’s eyes became lightning, while Hulk bared his teeth and Hawkeye, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Widow stepped in front of the two teens, though Captain America did eye the hand holding…and was surprised when Kamala did the same back at him. Iron Man stayed neutral but looked right at Jameson before speaking.

“I was getting to that Jameson, try having some patience…for when I end all of your slander of our interns for good!” the armored hero stated, turning back to the crowd as whole Jameson gawked at this declaration.

“As I was going to say before being interrupted, the battle in Times Square these four young heroes was due to Spider-Man reporting in the attack to us while Ms. Marvel had been there as strictly as means to keep active reports coming in but was forced into the battle by Vulture. Spider-Man’s actual backup was to be Iron Heart also known as Riri Williams and Amadeus Cho joined the battle in hopes of bringing the six fugitives as instructed by their team’s adviser and if not for Green Goblin they clearly would have succeeded,” Iron Man explained, just before one of the reporters spoke up.

“You have been saying words like intern and adviser, does this mean Spider-Man’s connection to the Avengers an official one? And if so who is this ‘adviser’?” The reporter asked, which seemed to snap Jameson out of his stunned state and add a third question to the list.

“What we should be demanding to know is why a supposed ‘hero’ who tried to kill someone was even there?! What is she lost it right in the middle battle!” Jameson exclaimed, now almost daring for the Avengers to try and scare him again, when different voice growled out, “Enough!”

With that the crowd turned to see Sheikh Abdullah marching forward flanked by Lockjaw and Nikia, reporters stepping aside as Lockjaw lightly growled. The group stopped right in front Jameson, who to his credit did not bat an eyelash when they got close.

“I don’t know who you are but stay out of this! I’ll keep this city safe from these costumes menaces if it’s the last thing I do!” Jameson stated as he cross his arms across his chest, only to take step back Sheikh Abdullah moved his face right into Jameson’s.

“I will not! If not for those two ‘menaces’ as you dared to call them, both I and Sister Nikia would be dead a week ago! Ms. Marvel was given the choice by the one who forced her to watch as they killed the Khans to either save us or remain safe in this tower, she chose break rules against her house arrest to save us and Spider-Man made sure my injury did not kill me before assisting in making sure two of the three kidnappers did not escape!” The Sheikh yelled at Jameson, revealing a little more than the Avengers had intended but they could tell the elderly man was trying to release enough facts to shut Jameson down without revealing everything about the missing Inhuman operation or what happened in full.

“And if not for Spider-Man’s connection to Ms. Marvel who knows what would have happened during the riots over a week ago! Our city’s only hero was taken from us by the actions of others making her look like she was unfit to be its protector but thanks to her friendship with him, he Thor and Iron Heart came to Jersey to protect it!” Nikia added, her voice reminding many of her speaking out after the riots as one of the heads of the ‘Free Ms. Marvel’ protests.

Before reporters or Jameson could question the pair on their story, Iron Man called out, “A bit sooner than I had planned on revealing that but yes, due to the Avengers being on a critical mission at the time, Ms. Marvel while under Iron Heart and Amadeus’ watch chose to save our guests from the very person who paid Shocker to provoke Ms. Marvel and then killed Yusuf and Maneeba Khan right in front of her. Her break down was caused by a attack mean to break her, one that was repeated but she chose the correct path the second time…it was by no means an easy task but it clearly proves she is worthy of her place as one of the very interns I have been mentioning!”

This caused the reporters’ attention away from Kamala supporters; even Jameson was stunned again, allowing Iron Man to continue with his planned unveiling of the program as he spoke again, “Now as for the previous questions, yes Spider-Man is now officially backed by the Avengers due to his new status as a members of the Avengers Intern Program, a program inspired by our time helping Ms. Marvel recover from her trauma. With the rising number of young heroes out there, it is our is hope this new program will help at least some of this promising youths achieve their full potential while also being there to keep the travesty that effected Ms. Marvel from happening again. To ensure that, we have invited Captain Marvel to join us as an Avenger and more importantly be the adviser I mentioned. During intern based operations she will be there to offer tactical assistance and in the even a crisis happens she can deploy to help directly.”

“And what exactly is an ‘intern operation’?! As far as I can tell the one you just did was just what the web headed menace does normally just with help from three other teenagers, one who regardless of the reason still tried to hmmf!” Jameson started to saying, when Spider-Man pushed past the wall of older heroes to get a clear shot with a web shooter and webbed his mouth shut.

“Say what you will about me Jameson, I can take it…but Ms. Marvel is off limits!” Spider-Man growled, though as moved to step forward both Black Widow and Captain America placed their hands on his shoulders.

“Leave him to us soldier, as those teaching you from here on out, it’s our job to deal with these matters not you,” Captain America instructed, being supportive of the young hero despite both being slightly at odds over Kamala but that a private issue.

“Don’t forget Tony said the slander stops now so even if you can ‘take it’ we won’t let him anymore. Just worry about Ms. Marvel,” Widow added, making Jameson fume at the constant use of the word ‘slander’.

“How can you say I have been slandering him? Look at all the damage he has caused and has never been held accountable! Even if this ‘intern program’ does that, he has clearly been the reason for the increase in super villain crime since none of them existed before he showed up! The same goes for the pretend Ms. Marvel! Make them take off those masks since their own teammates have been made public!” Jameson challenged after finally ripping the webbing from his mouth, until Iron Man looked to Captain Marvel and gave her a nod.

The older Marvel just grinned at this since it was her first ‘official’ act as Intern Adviser was to take out the trash! She easily flew over to Jameson and crabbed him by the back his shirt and took him towards the exit.

“Thanks for stopping by Jameson, I’ll be sure to let Mr. Parker you said hi when I get in touch with him to ask how much it would cost for him to just stay home instead of chasing Spider-Man around!” Iron Man called out, getting a loud ‘WHAT?!’ from Jameson as Captain Marvel threw him out the door before giving Jarvis the order to keep him outside, so she could rejoin the others.

Meanwhile Spider-Man relaxed a little at the removal of his boss…former boss? He really hoped Tony had good idea. With Aunt May in hospital now, he needed a job more than ever for the new batch of bills coming their way.

Over the next half hour Iron Man answered questions about the new program, deflecting anything that got too close to Kamala’s situation other than saying they felt she was making progress.

Kamala felt a lot of doubt about that, but knew she could not say anything in front of the press. If anything, she needed to draw less attention to herself given she was starting feel a bit weak. Kamala was glad when Tony finally called an ending to the whole thing and the large group could head back up to the HQ/penthouse portion the building.

As Kamala tried to walk out the door though, she felt her strength fail her start to fall; thankfully Spider-Man caught her. Before anyone could react, her boyfriend had already picked her up bridal style and got her to couch while Cap was already heading for the kitchen to grab water and granola bars.

“How long have you been feeling like this Kamala?” Natasha asked, sitting on the ground next to the couch while the teenager laid back, much like she had been doing before Spidey ‘kidnapped’ her.

“Since sometime after Jameson got thrown out, I thought I was just tired and would be fine once I could sit down,” Kamala answered, slowly drinking the water and eating the granola bars her mentor brought.

“This has happened before? You were quick to bring her food and water Mr. Rodgers,” Nikia asked, though Spider-Man.

“You should have seen what it was like when we met, I only got 3 pieces of a large pizza. That healing factor of hers takes a lot out of her and given what this week has been for her plus getting her butt kicked alongside mine I’m surprised she did not need a chair during the conference,” the spider themed hero explained, making Nikia more confused.

“What was so special about this week? You all have made references to it being hard on her…has there been attacks the news has not reported on?” Nikia asked while the adults focused more on their young protégé.

“We have been doing what we like to call a ‘stress test’ on her powers so to plan her training to hopefully let her become Ms. Marvel again. If she is to be an Intern Avenger, she needs know how to be even better then she was before. The down side to such tests is its taxing on the body, ideally she should have avoided being any kind of strenuous activity for at least a couple of days but Vulture forced her into the battle,” Captain Marvel explained, getting a look from both Nikia and Sheikh Abdullah that asked ‘then why was she outside the tower?’

Spider-Man looked to Kamala as if asking something and she nodded her head nervously, knowing what he wanted to say so to avoid things getting any more complicated.

“Yeah that was not the ideal first date, but the plan was to lift her spirits after all that hard work so mission accomplished for about thirty seconds…then the smack down happened. Does that qualify as a report or do we still need it in writing?” Spider-Man asked, getting a stair from Steve, smirks from Tony, Carol and Natasha, and raised eyebrows from Sheikh Abdullah and the ‘squad’. Riri and Amadeus were unfazed, while Nikia was slacked jawed.

“Son…if you’re going to keep making jokes try at least making them funny,” Steve stated plainly, getting a shock when Kamala spoke up.

“He is not joking Cap, we finally had a chance to talk in peace…we want to figure what these feeling are so please don’t stop us…well okay stop us if we do something stupid, but beyond that…” Kamala said, though clearly still more focused at sorting her feeling so was rambling a bit until most of the adults started laughing at her, though Steve was now glaring at Spider-Man.

“Son…I better not need to stop either of you from doing something ‘stupid’!” Steve lectured the boy, though Kamala stretched her arms out and pull her boyfriend close while glaring at her mentor.

“Stop trying to scare him off Cap!” Kamala shot back with a glare, getting surprised when the man just smirked at her.

“If I scared him off that easily than he would not be much of a hero…now let him breath solider!” Kamala’s mentor replied, confusing the two teens though it did at least make Kamala release her stretch arms from Spider-Man thinking she had been squeezing him though it was more to tease the girl.

“So…I’m not a dead man…at least as long there is nothing serious happens?” Spider-Man asked, still getting a smirk from the Captain as he point to the ‘squad’ at the two heavy hitters were cracking their knuckles while Clint was pretending to be inspecting some arrows with exploding heads.

“Guys!” Kamala cried out in annoyance, making more laughter happen but at least that lessened the tension over the confession the two were now a couple, though Kamala could tell Nikia planned to have a few choice words with her later.

After a few more granola bars and water, Kamala sat up looking much better and the team knew that would hold the teenager over until a proper meal was ready in a few hours so it was on to something Kamala wanted to bring up as a ‘team exercise’.

“So Spidey…about these other tools you have planned to go with the new suit…any good for catching spies? I still owe Nat for butting in at the hospital with Aamir and Naani!” Kamala asked, getting the squad to turn their attention to Natasha, all forgetting about that due the probation being on most of them.

“Seeing how only the wall crawler and thunder god are the only even aloud to look at a computer screen to game let alone play I fail to see…oh god your openly stating you’re going to be planning for three weeks!” the super spy exclaimed in shock, looking at the evil grins from three ‘adults’ and most of the teens.

“Finally someone else gets forced to play…for once I’m looking forward to Warframe sessions!” Riri stated, while Spider-Man asked where his sketch book was so he could over the plans for the gadgets.

“You only have a week to catch her soldiers! Do that and you are probation free, fail and no ‘punishment’ for Natasha!” Steve called out, making all heads turn to him, Natasha’s face going pale.

Before Natasha could protest though Carol spoke up, “So…those three plus all the teens play the game to? Have you guys started a clan yet or is that next on the agenda once you’re allowed to play?”

This made Natasha activate her cloak, realizing even the newest member of the team played that evil game! Meanwhile Kamala perked up and said, “Welcome Avengers Battalion…it was the first name we could get to work with Avengers in it. Now can we actually vote on who the warlord is because Clint ninja looted the role!”

“Did not! I’m the best shooter in the clan and it’s a shooter! And I do it with a bow, whole most of you pretty much spray and pray!” Clint countered, all the while the Sheikh just laughed while Nikia tried to figure out what was going on.

-

A few hours later Peter was toying with a trip mine in the labs as one of his ideas for new gadgets for is arsenal, just as much for the ‘capture’ of Natasha as it was to get his mind of the worry for his Aunt May. He was so focused he did not see Steve come in until he was sitting next to him, making the boy yelp and nearly set the mine off.

“H-h-hi Cap…this not about Kamala again is it? I promise we won’t…” Peter started to say but Steve held his hand to ask for silence, his demeanor being far less intimidating the previous private talks. It was easy for Peter to guess this was not as Kamala focused as previous chats.

“Easy solider, I maybe her mentor but I by no means intend to pull a Potts on either of you. Right now my concerns are more focus on your issues rather than the ones you share with her,” Steve explained, making Peter still feel nervous as this probably meant a certain job that helped pay the bills was about to come up.

“I know you guys don’t like me take picture for the Bugle but I need the money…even more than ever with my Aunt’s hospital bill on the way!” Peter exclaimed, though once again Steve held up his hand so he could speak.

“Trust me Peter, Tony and I have been talking about that in length because you need the money that badly and we came to a simple solution. Tony wants you to accept a role as his assistant, though under one condition…we go to your aunt and let her in on the secret so keep the stress on you both to a minimal,” Steve explained, Peter going pale until the a new voice came into the conversation.

“I can go with you Pete…I know it’s hard to let those you care about in on the secret, but things are going to hard now that you’re an intern time wise so maybe it would be a good idea to take the chance. Besides…I can share mine with her as well…she will probably figure it out anyway between us dating and you working with Ms. Marvel,” Kamala added, shocking the young man.

“Kam…are you sure? Plus what if she wants me to stop like your parents did?” Peter asked, clearly a bit scared at telling his Aunt what he had been doing…or why.

“That is why I asked her for her help Peter, she has faced this very problem so who better to be with you alongside Tony when you talk with your Aunt? I would go as well but that might draw too much attention with two Avengers with you, rather than your new boss and girlfriend,” Steve explained, while Kamala came over and took the other seat next to Peter.

“She just had a heart attack though…how can we just drop a bombshell like that on her?” Peter countered though just felt his hand get taken by Kamala and give him a reassuring look.

“Pete she was married to the man who taught you with great power comes great responsibility, if anything we will lower her stress in the long run…plus I think I can have a third person with us who can help make breaking the news easier.”

-

The next day Peter was at the hospital to see his aunt, alongside his new ‘boss’, Kamala and her Naani. He had to admit it made him feel better having someone who accept their family member’s role as a hero…though the woman still shot his dagger glares every so often once she found out he and Kamala were a couple.

Kamala’s Naani seemed understanding that her granddaughter was very ‘American’ though that did not stop her from making it clear she expected the young man to behave. There would be no great grandchildren for several years and only after marriage if the pair happened to get that far in their relationship. It probably helped the elderly woman noted Captain America was keeping an eye the two teenagers.

As they entered May’s room, the woman at first brightened at the sight of her nephew though was confused as to why his date from the fall formal was with him, let alone the elderly woman who stood next to her or…Tony Stark!

“Mr. Stark…I…” May started to say, but Tony eased her down with hands before placing on Peter’s shoulder while giving Kamala a nod to close the door so they could talk in private.

“It’s good to finally meet you Mrs. Parker, Peter has been telling me good things about you when I came to him for helping finding Spider-Man for the Bilderberg operation and well it lead to a much longer partnership then either us expected,” Tony greeted politely, offering his hand which May took though looked to Peter in confusion.

“Yeah…its part of the reason I have been out even more than usual…the night of the Jersey riots in particular. I have a new job, one Mr. Stark said I kind of need to come clean about my old one first though,” Peter explained though was clearly getting nervous until Kamala took his hand like she did at the press conferences.

“Still got your back Spidey,” Kamala reassured Peter, though the use of the word Spidey was just as much to make him fully commit to this. They both knew this needed to be done.

Peter nodded as he steeled his resolve and kicked off his shoes while May kept watching on in confusion. She clearly wanted to ask what was going on, before watching her nephew jump into the air while doing a flip, just before sticking to the ceiling.

“Oh my!” May exclaimed, her nephew’s strange behavior started to make sense since the night Ben died. The late return homes, the exhaustion, even the occasional bruise here and there, her nephew was Spider-Man.

As Peter jumped back to the floor, May looked back to Kamala as if seeing the child in a new light and ask, “Did we meeting again yesterday or was that someone else?”

Kamala looked nervous but nodded while saying “Y-yeah that was me…I could show it but I figured one power demonstration was already pushing it after your heart attack.”

As Kamala said this, her Naani stepped forward while placing hand on Kamala shoulder and say, “I know this a bit much Mrs. Parker, but its seems we both face the challenge of having children in our families choosing a hard but honorable path in life.”

May was confused at first at this but then realized the elderly woman’s connection to Kamala and why she was here. Both to support the two teenagers as she they shared this secret and give herself a person already had to overcome the shock learning it.

After taking a moment to collect her thoughts May turned to Peter and asked, “So…this is why you constantly been out past curfew…you’ve been doing this since your Uncle’s died?”

Everyone knew this was question Peter feared, since he knew once the secret was out admitting to why his Uncle Ben’s death. May was only asking when, but everyone knew Peter was going to want to add why and that was his greatest fear even without a heart attack being involved.

“Yes though…” Peter started to say, when Kamala took his hand again and he looked to her in confusion.

“You sure? Maybe it would be better to wait and let her…” Kamala tried to say, but was stopped by both Peter shaking his head while her Naani did the same and Tony spoke up to reinforce what the two were doing.

“It’s his call Stretch…heart issues or not, this is not going to be easy for Peter or Mrs. Parker,” Tony told his young charge, confusing May at what was going on but Peter began speaking before questions could be asked.

“I was not at the library when Uncle Ben was waiting for me Aunt May, I was at a nearby wrestling arena trying to win some prize money using my powers to have the advantage…when the one who supposed pay for winning refused because I would not sign an exclusive contract I let a robber who stole from him get away…it was the same man who shot Uncle Ben! Even though he always said ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ I did not listen until it was too late!” Peter explained, his eyes shut and tears starting to flow thinking his aunt was going to furious with him, until he felt a different hand take his free one while Kamala clenched the other in support.

Peter opened his eyes to see his aunt looking at him with a sad smile on her face, not anger or rejection.

“I know this might be hard for you Peter but please, tell me exactly what happened.”

-

Half an hour later Peter retold how events went down as best he could, still expecting her aunt furious but was shocked when she said, “Peter you could not have known he would have tried to steal your uncles’ car after escaping the building…if anything I more worried about what you are doing now over what you were doing that night.”

May then looked to Tony Stark and asked, “I heard about the internship from the nurses’ gossiping…is this the job you mentioned or are you referring to another? More importantly will this inter program keep him safer than him being alone like he was?”

“I’m offering his a job on top of the intern program; I can’t let the likes of Jameson twisting any pictures Peter takes against him or his fellow interns. Peter is a bright young man so I’m sure he will make an excellent assistant that should help more than the Bugle’s money ever did. As for him being safer, about as much as this life can be…I won’t lie Mrs. Parker, this life is dangerous no matter what, all we can do is give him the tools and support we can to help Peter succeed,” Tony confirmed, knowing only the utmost truth would help Peter right now. Sugarcoating it would more likely cause the very thing all wished to avoid.

May nodded her head at this and then looked back to Kamala, eyeing the hand holding, before asking, “And I assume you will be there for him young lady?”

“Always Mrs. Parker” Kamala confirmed, both teens noting the wording May used seemed she was at least considering allowing Peter to stay.

“It’s May my dear…I believe its Kamala isn’t it? I know you said Nikia when we first met but…” May replied sadly, easily now guessing the young woman’s real identity given how she was finally seeing the girl in the right mindset and getting a good look at her face without makeup on. It also helped the face of Kamala Khan had been back on the news shortly after Aamir Khan had requested to see Ms. Marvel.

Kamala nervously nodded her head at this, though a reassuring hand on shoulder from her Naani helped calm the teenager down, plus Peter squeezing her hand. Both reminding Kamala she was not alone. Though she still kind of wished May Parker had found out by being told rather than by deduction, it was why she had worn sunglasses when first coming in and only took then off once the door was closed.

“Well…I’m glad to know now at least…Ben’s saying seems to have greater wisdom then I would have thought it would have. Though you do know Peter, I will be watching to make sure you look after yourself…though you will be watching him as well Mr. Stark I assume?” May asked, making both teens relax that she was not going make Peter stop being Spider-Man.

“Of course Mrs. Parker…and in the event I start getting too lax in that role a certain shield wielding captain will be watching them both closely…or the nice grandmother who keeps eyeing the hand holding,” Tony replied, clearly making fun of the teens who were now glaring at him while Kamala Naani smirked and May giggled.

“Tony…don’t make me add you to the Riri style punishment alongside Natasha!” Kamala threatened, while Peter looked ready to pounce if Kamala gave the word…though both then looked confused as Tony just took out his phone and opened an app, turning for the two to see the warframe app open show an account with a master rank of 28.

“Nice try juniors, but I was playing before the ‘squad’ was even a thing. I just never joined those three because it was more fun watching them squabble and now that you’re a clan I only joining until I’m the warlord. A founder does not follow late comers,” Tony countered smugly; while the two teens went slack jawed and the two other adults pretty much looked confused at what was going on.

“Assuming that is not a hacked account…got any tips to catch a certain super spy so we can play? The clan warlord should be able to advice the others after all!” Kamala challenged, neither she nor Peter fully trusting the man just yet, who mocked being hurt.

“Kamala, you wound me! Of course it’s legit…though if I must prove my superiority I will when we get back to the tower. But first I must ask both of these very confused women if they have plans for Thanksgiving?”

-

The next day, Natasha was leaving the training room in nothing but a muscle shirt and sweat pants and was wiping the sweat away with a towel when Spider-Man jumped down ceiling and crossed his arms while blacking her path.

“Can I help you?” Natasha asked, her voice neutral though suspected what the young man was here for. The only part Natasha was confused by was the timing, they teens had a week to pull this stunt yet they were trying the very next day? If Peter was the one pushing for this strategy, Kamala was going to be the field leader.

“I’m here to give your only chance to surrender, do so and we might just make you play the starting quest and call it even,” Spider-Man instructed, the smug grin projecting through the mask, clearly thinking this was going to work.

Natasha just rolled her eyes and tried to just walk around the cocky boy, only to get foot trapped by a webbing shot. This changed her expression to a glare of annoyance.

“Peter…I will hurt you if you try that again,” Natasha stated firmly, pulling her foot free and started to walk away again, only to jump aside when she heard the sound of webbing firing and saw two web lines shoot past. Clearly he had tried catch her, so this meant war.

“You asked for it now!” Natasha stated as she started to move forward, but Spider-Man was already running away, this time something new appeared in his hand, a small white web ball with a blinking light inside.

“New toy time, let me know what you think!” Spider-Man called out as he threw the ball at her and out reflex Natasha dove back into the gym, looking back in time to see an explosion of webbing fill the hall.

‘Of course he would turn that stuff into a bomb…must have spent the whole day just getting that one new trick working, well he just played his only trump card!’ Natasha thought as she waited for Spider-Man to enter gym, only to be surprised he did not.

‘Guess he is not a complete rookie then, probably thought the hallway right after a workout was the best time to strike…might have worked if he had not issued the challenge!’ Natasha mentally analyzed, slowly making her way to the exit and looked both ways…both oddly Spider-Man free.

“Oh yes, there is not trap waiting for me in either direction!” Natasha grumbled, before making her way down to the hall to her room. She needed her gear to face this ridiculousness of this situation.

As she got several yards down the hall, she heard beep and jumped back to avoid a burst of webbing from a small device on the wall hidden by one of many plants Tony had through the halls. If it had hit her, Natasha would have been captured for sure!

‘A web mine?’ I know Tony said Peter had several new gadgets planned but how did he get two ready so soon?’ Natasha wondered, though glad she now knew to be careful of any places such devices could be planted. At least that was the through until the hall lights went out.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Natasha growled in annoyance before calling out to Jarvis to turn the lights back on…only to be met with silence. Somehow the kids had taken him out of the ‘exercise’ or Tony was being an ass and letting them mess with the building to ‘level the playing field’.

Natasha let her eyes adjust to the dark so she could slowly continue toward her room, several more time needing to dodge web busts from mines that were probably less well hidden because their owner though the lower light level would make up for the lack of cover.

‘I’ll give the boy credit, he has decent base strategy but he really should have involved his team. Alone I can handle anything he throw…’ Natasha thought as she reach the door to her room, but just as she reached for the knob she realized she almost made a rookie level mistake. Peter had laid traps all the way here…what was to stop him from doing the same to her room? True normally Jarvis would have alerted her of this but he was out of the equation.

As Natasha mulled over her options of what to do, a very familiar word was called out from the other side of the door, “Embiggen!”

Natasha leapt away from the doorway, avoiding the massive hand that burst through and tried to grab her. Clearly at least two interns where a part of the plan and of course it was the love birds!

“I know you want to play that stupid game but break the door…really?” Natasha called out as she started running down the hall, knowing trying to get her gear would be pointless. Either it would be trapped or the teens stripped the room clean of weapons and tools, both options making the room pointless to be near right now.

“Oh this is just as much about making me hear Naani say I was ‘forgiven’! I know you’re big on tough love, but that hurt Nat!” Kamala called back, her voice hold a hint of genuine hurt, though the girl was still trying to be playful and joking.

‘Trust me Kam, you needed to hear that,’ Natasha thought as she ran back the way she came, knowing it had higher odds of being safe unless Peter laid more traps. Sadly she had a much worse fate as the light came back on and was met by the sight of both Riri and Amadeus waiting for her.

Riri did not have her armor and Amadeus was in his human form, but both had web shooters on their wrists and let loose and barrage of large web shots that Natasha would later find out was called impact webbing, but right now all she thought it was, was annoying!

“You kids are lucky this stuff dissolves in an hour or you would be cleaning this up for a week!” Natasha called out as she dodged the sticky projectiles and leapt over the two teens…only find Spider-Man waiting several feet back with his mask off to make his evil grin visible to the older hero.

Natasha was in mid air so was helpless to avoid the strange device that Peter fired at the ground below her, which generated some sort of blue field that suspended her in the air and left her helpless as Kamala got her massive hands covered in webbing before she grabbed the super spy.

“Field test of web bomb, trip mine, impact webbing and suspension matrix successful…too bad I did get to try the concussive blast but at least four out of five is not bad,” Peter said triumphantly, putting his mask back on while Natasha struggled in vain to free herself from Kamala’s sticky grasp.

“How could you possibly get five different tools ready in just a day, let alone make enough of them for this stunt?!” Natasha demanded as the lights came back on, followed by Tony’s voice speaking up over the speakers Jarvis used to communicate.

“Well as the new clan warlord, I felt it was important demonstrate my benevolent leadership and offer guidance to young Peter…and I might have had some the machines I use to build my armor help mass produce the new tools in bulk,” Tony gloated, though the voice of Clint was in the background sounding very annoyed.

“Guessing Clint did not like the news?” Kamala asked as the group marched towards the living room with their ‘prisoner’.

“No he did not…even more so when Thor and Hulk voted against him…Carol is sulking I’m in charge though,” Tony commented, though the sound of a smack and an ‘owe!’ soon followed as Carol spoke up.

“One I’m not sulking and two…you bribed/blackmailed them! In one month we are having a real vote!” Carol stated firmly, getting a yelp of agreement from Clint.

“Fine but you’ll be crying when I get voted in any way!” Tony shot back as the group entered the room, Steve rolling his eyes as he read the paper to ignore as the now revived ‘clan’ began setting up the laptops.

-

“So at the end of the week you will attack the tower, barring the Avengers do not make a move on me before that? Are your new ‘allies’ going to be enough to face the Avengers in their own base of operations?” Hala asked, surprised either of her two former soldiers Kaboom and Kamran had not been broken yet.

“Don’t forget I’m not counting on just the ‘Sinister Six’ but the Tombstone’s additional forces plus the ones I have been gathering. The main goal is of course to capture Ms. Marvel for you as per our agreement, though she will make for an excellent bargaining chip into forcing the Avengers to stand down if we take her quickly enough,” Norman answered, seeming most pleased with how events were going.

“Most of which are normal humans so I don’t hold much hope for them, but if it deals with the Avengers then so be it…if you happen to be able take the older Marvel as well, my superiors would be most pleased. It’s by no means a high priority request but if happen to find a way to take her, the offer stands” Hala replied, her distaste for Captain Marvel clear in her voice.

Norman smirked at this, the idea of getting a ‘bonus’ sounding appealing to him, though unlike Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel was a much harder target to subdue. As the two continued their talks, Harry listened in again and knew he had to warn Peter no matter what. Too much was at stake and maybe him helping the Avengers would allow him to request a deal on his father’s behalf!


	13. Shattered Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers, Khans and Parkers gather for thanksgiving only to find out Green Goblin is planning an attack on their home while also finding where Hala the accuser is located. The Avengers and Interns now must split up take on their foes but what might be the cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got the first part of the final battle out, hope you all enjoy and hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
> 
> One more or two more chapters to go, depending how the next one goes so soon I can try out several new ideas I have mind the three I have in mind are:
> 
> 1) is more of a collection of ideas on different ways the Avengers discover mind swapping of Otto's mind into Peter body. Some are one shots others short multi chapter ideas that spun off from the core idea of Kamala finds out while Miles and Peter are fighting the 'Superior Spider-Man'
> 
> 2) Kamala travel back in time with the help of the storm ranger costume (comic costume Kamala had for a few issues) to save Peter from a death she feels she caused
> 
> 3) a switch of roles for Peter and Kamala where she the one who defends New York as Ms. Marvel while he grows up in Jersey and later joins the Avengers as Spider-Man
> 
> 4) Got a fantasy idea I'm still fighting with so can't give much details, got how it start but not sure where to go once I get past that. Its basically where Kamala is a slave from a tribe of 'savages' bought by the Khans to serve as a bodyguard and gladiator (she has her powers and the Avengers appear as the story goes on if I can figure out how to implant things past the first few chapters)

Chapter 13 – Shattered Peace

A few days after Natasha’s ‘capture’ the interns were hard at work still going through the probation had technically lifted thanks to said capture of said veteran hero, the Sinister Six and the Green Goblin were still at large plus the Inhuman case still active because of how at least thee goblin was connected to it in some way.

This meant all of them needed to be at their best, hence why they were either improving their equipment or skills, such as Kamala was right now in the holo training room in New Attilan, facing off against strange alien beasts while Steve and Natasha watched on from the observation room.

“She is doing well…she seems to be getting back her old confidence plus making much better use of the training we have been putting her through all these month,” Natasha commented, though knew there was one last hurdle the young Inhuman needed to overcome, stop seeing herself and Ms. Marvel as two separate people, like she had still lost her and was struggling to get back to that point.

“We have done all we can to help her the rest is up to her Nat, even Rachel mentioned Kamala is holding on that last bit a grief and was struggling to get to the last phase, acceptance. She still feels she could have done more…” Steve replied, looking on sadly as Kamala struggled to finally bring down one last giant monster…and then looked on in horror as the system said the stage was clear and was beginning ‘Legendary Mode’.

“This is the video game I could get into, much more practical then that stupid warframe one,” Natasha commented, helping them both get off the previous conversation plus letting Natasha vent yet again at being forced to play for four hours upon her capture.

“Did not get converted I see,’ Steve joked, while Natasha glared but did not say anything since both noticed Medusa entering the room with Lockjaw at her side.

The long haired woman looked at the window and smile sadly as Kamala ran for her life from a mix of stronger versions of the previous beasts and many small drones that fired lasers at the petite girl. The Queen of the Inhumans could tell physically Kamala was doing much better but like the two training her, she could tell the Jersey girl was still not back to what she was before the incident on the spiritual and mental level.

“Will she with her team at the end of the month or still limited to the tower?” Medusa asked, seeing ‘field work’ as a means to maybe help Kamala break through her divide between her two halves, but at the same time not having her mind and heart truly into the task could put her in danger.

“We want to wait until at least month is up before that call is made. Either way she has been doing better despite her own thoughts on the matter. She gets depressed far less often and the nightmares are less common, the last one being after the fight with Kaboom…speaking of the girl…any luck with her or the boy?” Steve asked, the super solider hoping maybe resolving the source of Kamala’s predicament might help give his student a little more peace of mind and by extension, move closer to being healed.

Medusa allowed a more positive smile to grace her face as she replied, “Yes, that is why I’m here. Kaboom has finally healed enough to be ‘talked’ to…if anything her fight with Kamala has left her slightly scarred mentally…at least some justice has been served given what she inflicted upon Kamala!”

Natasha smirked at this and looked to Steve who nodded though his expression more serious. He knew and understood what Natasha did when it came to missions and knew it was needed, but his moral compass did not allow him to take pleasure in what the spy was about to do. Not even if it might help Kamala.

A few minutes later Natasha was in the prison area of New Attilan, where Kaboom was restrained to the wall, her breathing clearly much better than the last time Natasha had seen the girl, though the lightning hair was replaced with orange hair, the nullifier on her neck blocking her powers.

“Please…no more…I’ll talk,” Kaboom begged, making Natasha smirk, wondering what Medusa’s people had done before she got here…must have been Karnak, he would have had an easy time breaking the girl once she was healed enough to actually be interrogated.

“Then tell us why you target your fellow Inhumans!” Medusa demanded, her anger at her subjects like Kamala were having such things done to them. It did not matter they did not live in New Attilan, any Inhuman was one of her people and thus under her protection!

“It was the orders I was given, find powerful Inhumans and test them to see if they would be useful to…” Kaboom started to say, but fear of who gave the order must have kicked back in as she clamped up again.

This would not stand with Natasha, who placed her hand on the Kaboom’s rib cage and started applying pressure, slowly causing pain.

“Tell me who gave the order! Was it Green Goblin or someone else?!” Natasha demanded, Kaboom shaking her head through her gritted teeth. Only for a new voice to call out to the two women thus saving Kaboom from whatever tactic Natasha would follow up with.

“Goblin is just our contact, it’s the one who is working with him is one after Inhumans” The voice of the glowing boy called out from the neighboring cell, getting confused expressions from Natasha and Medusa and a look of horror from Kaboom.

“Kamran what are you doing?! She will kill us if she finds out!” Kaboom called out in terror, though all the boy now known as Kamran did was laugh.

“You are on the verge of giving it all away anyway, I help spill the secret now and maybe we both get to live!” Kamran called out, while the two women left Kaboom’s cell to get a better look at the one willing to finally talk.

“I don’t recall saying either of you would be executed,” Medusa replied casually, wondering if Karnak implied it as a means of breaking Kaboom.

“I’m not taking any chances…your highness…if nothing else I’m clearly not getting anything for remaining ‘loyal’ to Hala or the Kree since we are clearly going to be left here to rot!” Kamran stated firmly, making Medusa and Natasha gasp at finding out this whole thing was due to a group beyond Earth rather than someone like the Green Goblin.

“So that is what is going on…the Kree are here for their ‘property’ or at least the best of those not in safe places like New Attilan,” Medusa concluded while, while Natasha looked the boy in the eye and asked the one question that could help them end this.

“Where is Hala?”

-

A couple of hours later Kamala back at the tower taking a shower to get ready for Thanksgiving Dinner. Despite feeling tired she was looking forward to this, Aamir and her Naani were coming and so was Peter’s Aunt May. In a way her whole ‘family’ was together for the evening.

“Family…” Kamala whispered sadly, but shook it off and got dressed in a pair of brown pants and navy blue sweater, thinking wearing the quickly being worn out black lightning bolt t-shirt or the blue one that was much like her burkini was not appropriate for the evening. She did not even take her mask, Tony saying he would have the windows on the penthouse level locked down so no one would see May or the two Khans in the building as both groups would be brought in by Lockjaw.

‘Weird not needing my mask for a change when leaving the room’ Kamala thought as she went down the hall to the living room and the connected kitchen and was greeted with the smells of the meal that was being prepared. The kitchen was complete chaos, Hulk being pushed out by Carol and Kamala could see Peter’s aunt helping, meaning Peter must be off getting Aamir and her Naani.

“Mini me help me keep this brute out of here, take him on a survival run if you have to just keep him away from the kitchen!” Carol called over, making Kamala laugh as Natasha called a loud no!

“Hey if I don’t have games to distract him then you can keep him out of the kitchen Nat!” Kamala called out, Clint and Thor joining her in getting the big guy away from the food while a frustrated yell from Natasha, most of the other Avengers laughing at her displeasure.

Though before they could even consider going for the laptops, a flash of light appeared and once it died down Lockjaw stood with Peter and Kamala’s remaining blood relations in America. The part that drew Kamala’s gaze though was her brother was in a wheel chair and clearly the sight had sucked the joy from her eyes.

“Go be with them Kam, we will find something else to distract the big guy and maybe we can slip in a session after dinner,” Clint told the young girl, who smiled sadly in gratitude and rushed over to see her family.

Aamir and their Naani could easily tell why Kamala was struggling to keep a smile on her face as she hugged their grandmother and then him. The wheel chair was probably giving her implied repercussions to the attack on him from that night and he knew he needed to say something or she would be in for a long evening.

“I’ll be fine Kamala, just have got my strength back yet. I only got discharged yesterday and have not gotten used to crutches yet. The doctors all agree I should be fine in a few month, half a year at most,” Aamir assured his sister, who took some solace in that but clearly seemed to blame herself for his injuries until their Naani place her hand on Kamala’s shoulder.

“Beta you have been forgiven, stop taking blaming yourself for thing that have past,” the elderly woman mildly scolded the girl, who flinched at the word ‘forgiven’. Seeing this made Peter spring into action to ‘save’ his girlfriend by flipping into the air and firing web line to pull her up to him.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Aamir demanded, slacked jawed that this boy was manhandling his sister, making both teens blink at his response while their Naani just smirked.

“You did not tell him, did you?” Kamala asked her Naani, who just walked away while Aamir looked back and forth at his two relatives before demanding, “Tell me what?!”

“We’re dating,” Peter stated plainly, making Aamir go slacked jawed at this news. Clearly while Kamala’s Naani was willing to allow it, she was going to leave the explaining to Kamala and Peter.

-

Over the next few couple of hours, the over sized ‘family’ was enjoying the final phases of the meal, coffee and pie were being served though for most of the meal Aamir was glaring at Peter. For the sake of keeping the man from blowing a blood vessel, Kamala opted to sit between her grandmother and brother while Peter sat with his Aunt May, both adult women actually smirking at the two teens’ predicament.

“Mr. Khan I can assure Peter has been nothing but a gentleman from what I have seen, you have nothing to worry about,” May assured the young man though she did have rough understanding dating was not considered proper in the Khan’s culture and Aamir was probably the most traditional of the present Khans.

“I’m sure you have done your best to raise him well Mrs. Parker but that not…” Aamir started to say, when his Naani cleared her throat and with a casual glance had Aamir back down.

“We are here get to know the very people who have been supporting Kamala, that includes Peter who has been at her side for much of this difficult time in her life. We must accept she walks her own path and is growing her family beyond us…a matter I bring up hoping now is a good time Mr. Stark and Mr. Rodgers,” Kamala’s Naani said while giving said granddaughter a reassuring smile to help her release the tension from her brother’s outburst, though Kamala was confused at what her grandmother meant by the last part.

“Of course, given what Natasha told us I think it’s better to do it as soon as possible, to both put Kamala’s fears and your concerns at ease,” Tony said he got up to get something from the kitchen while Steve came over to the group.

‘What is going on…my fears…oh please don’t be telling me I’m leaving at the end of the month!’ Kamala thought as she looked to Natasha for answers, but all she got was the woman giving her a smile like everything was going to be alright.

Kamala’s attention was quickly turned back to her mentor, who had placed his hand on her shoulder and was about to say something, when Jarvis spoke up, “I have a Harry Osborn asking to see Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel, he says it’s on a matter concerning the Green Goblin.”

‘Thank you Jarvis!’ Kamala thought as the room got tense at hearing the name Green Goblin, she being the only one getting any relief from the news since it got the focus off her.

Peter quickly got changed into his costume while Kamala did the same, neither knowing Harry actually knew who they were. As a precaution Captain America was going with them in full uniform and carrying his shield, being there to protect both interns if this was some sort of trap.

They took the elevator down to the lobby and as the door opened, they found a very nervous Harry Osborn pulling a cork out of vile and drink a strange green liquid and pocket the vile. All three heroes did not like the look of this but knew the news of the Green Goblin was the priority, and then they could question why the young Osborn seemed to be hiding whatever that was.

“Mr. Osborn, our AI Jarvis said you had important information for us?” Captain America asked, clearly the boy being startled as he was either scared about being followed or hiding whatever that substance was…perhaps both?

“C-Captain America…I was only expecting Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man, I thought I might be a bit too beneath your notice,” Harry managed to get out, Spider-Man knowing this mindset was caused by his Dad’s lack of interest in Harry so probably thought someone like one of Earth’s Mightiest would seem him as even less.

“Your brining information on a priority target of the Avengers son, of course I would want to hear this on behalf of the team. I’m actually worried you wanted two of our interns rather than one of us…is there a problem?” Cap asked the nervous boy, who took a piece of paper out of his pocket with the words ‘Spider-Man – PP and Ms. Marvel – Queen Witty Girl’ while saying, “Not sure if I should say it out loud in the lobby.”

Both teens went pale that Harry knew somehow knew who they were, the code names next to their hero names being only understandable to those who knew facts about them. Spider-Man’s was obviously just his initials but Kamala’s was more of a reference to the fall formal.

“Well…that explains it…and the discretion is something we can all be glad for. Let’s head up stairs and…Spider-Man?” Captain America started to say until he noticed Spider-Man tense in a way he only did under one circumstance, his spider sense kicking in.

Before anyone could react, a trio of men in pumpkin masks burst into the lobby with guns with very large barrels, all three firing pumpkin bombs at the group.

Captain America was quick jump in front the three teens and block first wave of explosions with his shield while calling out, “Head for the elevator!”

As the group of heroes and one civilian headed for the safety, a turret came down from the ceiling and fired low powered energy beams at the attackers, meant knock out those attacking the tower rather than kill which allowed everyone but Captain America to reach.

The Captain was almost too said elevator when one of the henchmen tried dodging one of the stun beams and his weapon fired at the ceiling, sending debris raining down on Captain America’s head and stunning him.

“Cap!” Kamala screamed as she sent her arms out while enlarging her hands to grabbing him, while their attacks tried fire upon dazed super soldier, Kamala’s massive hands taking the brunt of force of the pumpkin bombs as she pulled her mentor to safety.

“Nice job soldier…how are your hands?” Captain America said to his student, still shaking off the debris hitting his head, though was clearly concerned she took those hits for him.

“Almost done healing Cap, but will you be okay?” Kamala asked, not knowing if the rubble was just that hard, it just hit the right spot or her teacher was hurt bad if he got dazed like that. She never understood exactly how high was the ‘peak of human ability’ was.

“I’ll be fine, we should be more concerned about our ‘friends’ down stairs…Jarvis?” The captain replied before speaking to the AI hoping for a report on the battle with the building’s defense against the henchmen.

“Mr. Stark ordered the lobby sealed and gassed once you were safe. Hulk and Thor are exiting the tower by the balcony and will apprehend your attackers shortly,” Jarvis answered, making everyone breathe a sigh of relief and return their attention back to Harry.

“Alright…what did you do to have the Green Goblin after you Harry?” Spider-Man asked, taking his mask off so he could better connect with his friend.

“That’s the thing Pete…those guys where here before I was…they are the scouts for what I was coming to warn you about. My Dad…he is after your friend and…I think he created the Green Goblin since he got all his tech from Oscorp and now his schemes are using the same pumpkin mask wearing guys that the Bugle reported on before are doing what my Dad wants...please don’t hurt him!” Harry explained clearly scared out of his mind right now.

“Easy there Mr. Osborn, let’s get up the top floor and talk it over with the others, please tell the team everything from the beginning”

-

A short while Harry went over the couple of conversations with a woman named Hala…up until the Jersey Riots were brought up, making Kamala let out a feral scream of, “HE WHAT?!”

The Avengers who realized this would happen only a split second before Kamala started screaming. It would only make sense she was be livid at finding out all that pain and suffering was caused that night and possibly the night with Shocker as well was by a man she had only been inches from at the Stark Expo.

For Kamala, she was racing through several other scenarios such as was Norman Osborn responsible for the kidnapping and murder of her parents? Was it Hala? Was it only Kaboom and they just gave her free reign on how to do her task?

“Try to stay calm Kamala, we will make sure he is punished…very soon since he is clearly getting ready to attack us if his goons made a move in our own lobby,” Natasha told the young heroine, hoping being a voice of reason to help Kamala’s rage stay in check until either Tony or Steve made a call on what they were doing and when.

“Everyone keeps telling me to be calm when these things happen! He planned the riots! He probably had a hand in killing my parents! Hurt my brother! Cripple Bruno’s hand! Kidnapped Sheikh Abdullah and Nikia! Even now his goons nearly hurt Cap! How many times do people I care about need to get hurt all while I’m at least part of the reason it’s happening?!” Kamala demanded, every so often shooting dagger glares at the child of the man who had caused much of her current troubles.

“Knock it off nut job! I’m trying to help so don’t go blaming me because you drew attention to yourself just because you got the ability to twist yourself out of shape!” Harry growled out, a mix of getting angry at Kamala’s blaming of his father for everything, no matter how true it could possibly be, plus the globulin green coursing through his system augmenting his aggression given he had just taken a dose.

Everyone was expecting Kamala to be the one to explode at Harry’s comment that no one was ready for when it was Peter who grabbed Harry by his shirt and lift him off the ground with one hand.

“Never insult her again Harry! You don’t know the whole story even if it’s been implied! I know your worried about your Dad but he brought this on himself for whatever stupid reason he is helping this Hala person! People are dead because of him!” Peter yelled at someone who normally saw as his best friend, but calling Kamala a ‘nut job’ or belittling her powers and the good she did with them was crossing the line.

“Some friend you are! He saw you as more of son then he did me and now you don’t even care why he might be doing this!” Harry shouted back, kicking Peter in the face with both legs before anyone could settle either boy down, showing just how strong he was thanks the green fluid he had been taking for months augment his body and mind. It caught Peter so off guard at the sheer power that almost matched his own strength, it knocked Harry free of his grasp and almost made Peter blackout as he got sent him flying back.

“That is enough!” Steve stated as he moved grab Harry while Peter’s aunt rushed over to check on him, but Harry was quick and stepped inside the super soldier’s reach and moved to punch him…only to be grabbed by a massive hand and slammed into the floor and pinned in place by said hand, its owner being Kamala.

“So that was what you were drinking…are you really here to warn us or you working for your Dad and the Goblin?” Kamala demanded, her anger growing from both the boy’s comments plus hurting Peter, but was only kept in check because she knew Harry was the only way to end this madness.

“That’s enough beta, let him up and let’s ALL calm down,” Kamala’s Naani instructed firmly but with a calm tone, placing her hand on the teen’s shoulder to reaffirm the command, though made sure to give a firm look in the directions of both Harry and Peter. She did appreciate Peter actions in defending her granddaughter from such harsh comments but all the anger needed to be halted if anything was to be achieved.

“I’ll be calm once I’m out of here, good luck dealing with…” Harry stated as Kamala retracted her hand, but was cut off by Hulk and Thor blocking his path.

“You are not going anywhere kid, it’s not safe for you be near your Dad now that you ratted him out. You can stay here while we put this to an end…any luck finding that ship yet Carol? If we launch a strike on both Osborn and the Accuser at the same time we might be able wrap this up in one fell swoop,” Tony said, clearly knowing the boy was going to be a handful but knew he needed to keep Harry safe until this was all sorted out.

“It’s hiding behind an old satellite, if I was not familiar with Kree it might have taken longer. I say once we find out where the evil Osborn is, us adults take out the warship and said the kids to deal him,” Carol suggested, making Harry snap at hearing Ms. Marvel might be anywhere near his father.

“Keep the psychopath away…from…my…” Harry started to yell, but Natasha gassed the boy with a sleeping agent she kept stored in her wrist gauntlets, ending another round of teenage anger getting thrown around. Sadly Aamir was not as obliging.

“Kamala is not going out there! She’ll never be ‘ready’ because clearly she scarred by this superhero nonsense! We are going home…all of us!” Aamir stated, wishing he could stand, but did not trust his legs but would accept for simply wheeling forward to take Kamala’s arm, but she pulled away in fear.

“Aamir I’m not who Carol meant! And even if I was free to leave I wouldn’t be heading home and you shouldn’t either! We are safer here at the tower then at the house!” Kamala shot back at her brother, though before either sibling could argue further, Captain America stepped forward placing his hand on Kamala’s shoulder while looking right Aamir with a serious expression on his face.

“That is not is not your call to make Mr. Khan, it is ours and Captain Marvel was half right. All our interns will deal with Osborn…as will their adviser. With so many villains on his side, we can’t risk sending them under gunned against at least seven super villains with armed thugs as support this time. Having Captain Marvel backing them up would be best in such a scenario!” The captain stated firmly, making Kamala look to him in shock while Aamir started seething in anger.

“I will not allow it! My parents were right to want to end this madness and it wi…” Aamir started to yell, when his Naani stepped between the super solider and the elder grandchild with a furious look on her face.

“You will not interfere in this Aamir! This is your sister’s world and her calling…she has been blessed with abilities and has sought to use them justly. Her teacher and caretakers believe in her and have much greater wisdom on such matters. Either support her or stand aside!” The elderly woman lectured with so much force it made Aamir go meek and go silent, allowing her return her attention to the younger grandchild.

“You are calm enough for this beta? I want you following Ms. Danvers orders to the letter…out bursts such as what you had with this young man will only put yourself and those who will be at yours side in danger,” Kamala’s Naani asked while gesturing to the unconscious Harry Osborn, speaking less strictly than she did with Aamir but still very serious given the circumstances.

“Yes Naani!” Kamala managed to squeak out, clearly intimidated by the woman’s anger with Aamir.

With the yelling settling down, Carol finally voiced something she had an issue with for the plan, her staying behind!

“I know the kids could use the backup but we could just as easily ask any number of people for that, I have fought the Kree more times than I can count you could use my help!” Captain Marvel commented, knowing full well both groups could use extra fire power but her issues with the Kree made her personally lean towards taking the fight to space.

“We understand that Carol but you’re the advisor to the interns and they need all the help they can get if Osborn has the much muscle plus at least a large gang worth of henchmen. Sending four teens against those kind of odds goes against what the program is meant to prevent!” Tony countered, thought another reason was they knew they needed to send Kamala and if anyone could help her if her rather chaotic emotions kicked in mid battle, Captain Marvel was perfect to get through to the teen.

Captain Marvel could not help but agree with that line of thought, at least the part Tony had actually voiced. The kids would be so outnumbered and Amadeus was their only big gun. In theory Kamala going to biggest size she could realistically maintain could make her a second heavy hitter but that was not always the best option given property damage alone could be an issue.

“Um…the attack is supposed to be any day now right? Why not let them come and we just activate lockdown on the whole tower? We could bottle neck them floor by floor plus have Jarvis using the defenses, it would take them hours even try and overwhelm us and free Captain Marvel to go with you?” Kamala suggested, making everyone turn to the teen and stair.

“…and with that I’m out of the running for field leader” Peter commented as he pulled his mask back on though this comment made Kamala raise an eyebrow at him.

“This coming from the guy who actually came up with the battle plans for the Sinister Six, pretty sure if my idea was that good Tony or Steve would have thought of it!” Kamala countered, clearly neither wanted to steal the role from the other.

“We did not think of it because the tower’s defenses are not strong enough for some of the six, mainly Rhino and Sandman. Nothing is strong enough or geared towards them plus we are working under the assumption there will be a LOT of people coming, too risky having a drawn out fight since the tower is in the middle of downtown New York, we need you guys to ideally take the fight to them if possible…speaking of which, better go ‘talk’ with the trio of goon Widow while the rest of us suite up. If nothing else, let’s send the interns goon hunting.” Tony explained, while sending their best means of gathering information to hopefully find out where their enemies were.

-

At a warehouse by the waterfront, Green Goblin and his ‘allies’ were going over final preparations for the attack on Avengers Tower when yelling was heard from outside, making all villains look up from the of the area map and floor plans.

“The best laid plans of mice and men,” Green Goblin commented, before looking to Doctor Octopus, who nodded and signaled for the rest of the six to get ready.

“You think it’s the punks or the Avengers?” Shocker asked, looking forward to payback for sending that giant dog after him if it was the two teens that had been the bane of his existence for the last few months.

“It does not matter who it is, given we were mere hours from begin fully ready to launch the operation when the opportunity presented its self, if anything this just means we don’t need to worry about any of Stark’s surprises by attack the tower,” Doctor Octopus stated as he signal for other to head for the exit, only to stop as Amadeus smashed through the wall with his teammates following close behind him.

“I would ask how you found us but given how my watch team has not reported in I can guess how…so the more important question what gave them away?” Green Goblin asked, more curious then angry or annoyed, confusing the team of teen heroes since the six seemed more upset then the possible leader of this alliance.

“Osborn ratted you out, must have got tired of you messing up and hoping for a plea bargain before you got caught!” Spider-Man called out, technically true since Harry alerted them of the coming attack though his hope was at least learn more about the connection between Norman and the Goblin…if it happen to cause this alliance to start having issue all the better given Spider-Man knew both Doctor Octopus and Vulture had major issues with Norman Osborn.

“What are they talking about Green Goblin?” Octavius demanded in a dangerous tone, Vulture equally as angry and ready to take to the air at this bit of news. Shocker meanwhile was wary, he only vaguely knew of Hammerhead under the Big Man’s orders to create super villains to battle web headed menace so this bit of news if true was something to make sure got to his superiors.

“Oh please if I was working for Osborn why have I have raided his company for the technology I use?” the Green Goblin casually replied, though deep down was furious at this turn of events. How did they brats learn what little they did know? So far they did not know Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin were one and the same but even knowing what they did was impossible.

“Misdirection given how he seems to be playing sides, helping the big man create villains to fight me, supplying you with weapons for both you and your gang; even helping you target the Big Man and being behind everything that has affected Ms. Marvel and other Inhumans!” Spider-Man pushed, easily making the connection between the source of villains he had been fighting with Harry’s additional information. Tombstone had the money but not the labs to do it. If Norman was so interested Kree genetics technology or Amadeus’ nanotech why not living sandmen or bipedal tanks modeled after rhinos? Even Doc Ock was in a sense created by Norman given how the Green Goblin caused the accident that created him!

“Enough of this! Sinister Six, lets destroy them all and sort out the details later!” Doctor Octopus ordered, the battle breaking out almost as Spider-Man had hoped. Ideally he wanted to turn the six against the Goblin while calling a temporary truce with the Intern Avengers, but clearly the not so good doctor’s fury prevented that.

“Not a bad plan Spidey…and you said you were out of the running!” Kamala called out, dodging an attack from Shocker who clearly wanted a round three since it was the first thing he tried upon the battle breaking out. This was something Kamala knew she was not ready for mentally, good thing she had a team watching her back!

“Still two weeks to go Ms. M! I can still sabotage myself so you get the job and I get to sit back and laugh as you stuck playing babysitter for a whole group super powered kids!” Spider-Man quipped, before firing a suspension matrix at Shocker, who was caught off guard as he floated off the ground and then grew even more confused as another device was fired at the ground below him.

“What in tarnation?!” Shocker cried out as a web line fired from the new devise and pulled him to the ground with a solid thud, followed by blast of webbing that kept him trapped. The first successful use of a Trip Mine given Black Widow had dodged all of them during the ‘capture mission’.

“As if I would die on that hill alone! If I get made leader I’m making you my second in command the moment we had enough interns to justify it!” Kamala shot back with a smirk, moving in to attack Sandman hoping being more rested and having a chance think of ways to face him, but then got blasted back by Electro.

“Do I still capture Ms. Marvel or should I fry her?” Electro called out, young villain confused at what the current plan was given it was based on impute from Green Goblin, who was clearly no longer on their side.

“Destroy her Electro, we don’t want the Goblin getting her if he and Osborn want the child!” Doctor Octopus called out, using his mechanical arms to attack Green Goblin who was proving to be surprisingly quick even without his glider.

“As if I would allow that!” Goblin roared out as he took out a pumpkin bomb to attack Electro but could not get a clear shot with the Octopus attacking him from four different directions, meanwhile Spider-Man tried to get to Kamala but was attacked by Sandman who swatted him across the room with a massive sand hand.

Kamala meanwhile was shaking off getting hit the first time to see Electro charging up another attack, making her eyes go wide and dive out of the way, the blast scorching the ground where she just been on.

‘First Kaboom and now Electro…am I some kind of electric villain magnet?!’ Kamala thought she let her body get wobbly and start bending out of the way of each attack, the same way she did fought Shocker the first time but this time it was done more smoothly thanks to some of the harsh training she got over the last two weeks, even though the first was mostly stress testing.

The method was far from mastered but she was up against a rather sloppy and reckless rookie villain, one Kamala knew from Peter was also very easy to anger if you knew the right word.

“Come on Max, even Kaboom gave me more trouble and she was not able to go full body night light like you can!” Kamala called out, knowing that the villain’s old name was sore spot for him.

“My name is Electro you brat!” Electro roared in anger, firing a blast from his mouth but only got madder as Kamala bent out of the way again.

“Is this the best you got Maxi? Make like a Maximal and Maximize!” Kamala taunted, not sure how that old cartoon Beast Wars was coming to mind but it worked…though using the name of the good guys felt dirty when saying them in reference to a villain that had more in common with a Predacon.

“Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!” Electro raged as he kept firing at the stretchy heroine but as he got sloppier, Kamala got more comfortable with her movements. The missed shots leveling the wall behind their target and revealed the actual source of the battle sounds outside.

Captain Marvel was laying waste the combination of those who followed Green Goblin and those Tombstone under his other name ‘Big Man’ had sent to bolster the attack force meant to move on Avenger’s tower.

Bullets and pumpkin bombs were of little effect against the seasoned hero who rained blasts of energy upon the henchmen. If they had the support of the villains in the warehouse things could be different, but without a leader and real muscle backing them up, Captain Marvel was pretty much shooting fish in a barrel.

“You kids okay in there? That’s a lot of screaming I’m hearing!” Captain Marvel called over her comm. swooping down to for strafing run on her targets.

“Ms. Marvel is showing how long she had been around her boyfriend…think she just drove Electro insane!” Iron Heart answered through her armor’s own system, all the while keeping Vulture busy since the fight broke out. The villain had tried to slash her with his wings, but her Mark 2 armor was too tough for his blades, so needed to resort to his sonic scream he added to his suit for this rematch but both were being to agile for either flier to get a solid hit with the range weapons this time.

“Give her a break Iron Heart, she is getting her groove back!” Amadeus called out, while trading hits with Rhino, but clearly Amadeus was slowly gaining the advantage. Amadeus’ hulk philology was slowly increasing his strength as he got mad, the only reason he was not already stronger then Rhino was Amadeus did not get mad as easily as the original Hulk.

“You guys act like witty banter is a bad thing! Look at Mr. Stark, he has turned it into an art form!” Spider-Man called out, having overcome the blow from Sandman earlier and was trying fight said villain now.

Sadly besides the suspension matrix none of new tools would be useful against him and mindlessly punching Sandman was pointless…but they were near the water so Spider-Man was not out of options.

Kamala could not help but laugh as she heard a collative ‘That explains so much!’ from both the two other interns and her idol as Spider-Man lured Sandman outside and close to the water.

“Need a hand Spidey?” Kamala asked while she kept Electro busy with her dodging tactics but clearly the short fused man was running out of juice, his glow getting dimmer and rate of fire dropping.

“Nah Sandman is a push over!” Spider-Man called back he landed outside, his comment clearly angering the former goon of the Big Man and dove at the chatter box teenager…only to forget how close to the water they had become and actually went over the edge of the dock and landed in the worse thing possible for him!

“Must be villain tantrum day!” Spider-Man called out as he watched his opponent flail about in the water until young hero took pity and fired a web line to help pull him back to the dock. The now soak foe was too wet to control his sand grains and thus was now out of the fight since he was barely holding himself together.

A second later a loud crash was heard and everyone in the warehouse looked over to see Amadeus look triumphant and a large hole in the roof of the building now had a large hole. Meanwhile Captain Marvel see a giant grey object soar up and she quickly flew at it and grab it by the horn on its head and slam it into the ground with all her might.

“I softened him up for you!” Amadeus called out while the intern adviser just rolled her eyes, the sight of two villains being taken down right in front of them, plus the deviation Captain Marvel had already inflicted made all the gathered henchmen start running. Clearly they had lost and figured the heroes would be more focused on dealing with the remaining of the six and Green Goblin to chase the small fry.

Soon a third villain was taken down when Electro started to get light headed from over using his power and allowed Kamala stop her dodge tactics and dart in with an enlarged fist to hit him with an uppercut and as her foe went upward, she sent both hands outward to grab Electro and pull them back at full speed to slam into her knee, knocking him out.

‘That…felt good…am I her again? Or at least closer to being her again?’ Kamala wondered, feeling like it was more like before that night. No anger, just the fight for what was right and stopping the guys…speaking which she knew those answers needed to wait a bit longer. There were still three villains to deal with.

“Look at what you have done Octavius?! If you were not so weak, we could have destroyed not only Spider-Man but the Avengers! Now your team is deviated and my forces scattered!” Green Goblin growled out, despite his voice being altered by the mask the way he said it triggered a memory in Otto from just before the accident that caused him become Doctor Octopus.

“So that is the connection…you will pay for your treachery Osborn!” Doctor Octopus roared out, drawing the attention the Vulture as his stalemate with Iron Heart continued.

“Osborn…move Otto!” Vulture called out, breaking away from Iron Heart and letting loose a sonic blast at the Goblin, his ally narrowly avoid getting hit as well but the goal was achieve, the one both men hated sent flying back into the wall and rendered unconscious from the surprise move.

Though in Vulture haste to score a hit on the man who stole his flight suite technology, he forgot Iron Heart now had a chance to get in close and rip open the reinforced casing that housed the source of his ability to fly and thus clip the Vulture’s wings as he fell to the ground helpless once Iron Heart ripped it out.

“Six down and the armor boy is not here, guess that just leaves you Doc, you might want to surrender!” Spider-Man called out as he came back into the warehouse while Captain Marvel stood guard over Sandman and Rhino.

The remaining super villain looked back at the helpless Green Goblin and foursome of teen heroes and weighed his options. He knew prison was going to happened regardless so why not finish what Tombs started?

“Sorry arachnid but Osborn and I have unfinished business!” Doctor Octopus growled out and quickly sent his mechanical arms out to finish the Green Goblin off, but being someone who knew the desire for revenge all too well, Kamala jumped into action.

“Embiggen!” Kamala screamed out sending out her hands to grab the two mechanical arms while Spider-Man did the same with webs to snag the other two. Amadeus jumped forward to rip the appendages at their source close to the evil doctor’s back, rendering him no threat to anyone.

“NO!” Doctor Octopus screamed, both at the loss of his arms and of his revenge but was dragged off by the mini Hulk while Iron Heart did the same with Electro so they could add the villain to the ‘pile’ their adviser was guarding.

Meanwhile Spider-Man and Kamala went over to the Green Goblin to pull off the mask and confirmed what Doctor Octopus and Vulture suspected, it was Norman Osborn behind it all directly, not someone hired or backed by Norman to do the dirty work like they had assumed.

“Harry is not going to like this…his dad is going to be in more trouble than just planning things, he carried it out at times as well. Even if we are lucky and the stuff with Inhumans was more on that Hala lady…” Spider-Man started to say, until he felt the familiar tingle of his spider sense kick in.

There was no time fully react, Spider-Man focused solely on pushing his girlfriend out of the way as a blast from a now free Shocker hit boy in the back. Throughout the course battle he had been slowly weakening the webbing until he could finally burst free but he had made one key mistake, he had hurt someone Kamala loved instead of making a run for it!

“You dare!” Kamala screamed in rage, sending her arms out to grab Shocker by the wrists and crush his gauntlets with enough force to break said wrists!

As Shocker cried out in agony Kamala let go and charged forward tackling him to the ground and raised her fist to deliver the finish blow as she Embiggened the whole arm to make sure it was all she needed.

“The same people seemed fixated at taking what I hold dear from me…give me one could reason I should not finish you right here and now?!” Kamala demanded as her rage, until hand gently touched her large wrist.

As Kamala turned to see the source, she found her idol was there and giving her a sad smile that was asking Kamala to stop, before looking back at Spider-Man who was getting scanned by Iron Heart.

“What’s the web head’s condition Iron Heart?” Captain Marvel asked, hoping for not too dark news, knowing she would have to stop Kamala if the worse was too happen.

“He is alive and not critically wounded, but pretty sure he is going to need a few days to recover. He may be able to heal faster than most but it’s still not on par with healing factors like Ms. Marvel, let alone the insane ones like Wolverine’s” Iron Heart called back, making both Marvel’s breath sigh of relief.

“See Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man will be fine…don’t throw all your progress away for this piece of scum. You have every right to be angry, but like Steve has told you, never let it control you,” Captain Marvel told the younger heroine, who was slowly shrinking her arm back down to normal as tears formed in her eyes.

“I…I’m…I’m…” Kamala kept trying to apologize but stopped when her idol actually hugged her and gently got her away from Shocker.

“It’s alright kiddo, even I could have lost it under the same circumstance…now let’s wrap this up and get Spider-Man back to the tower to rest.” Captain Marvel told the young girl gently, not knowing they were being watched from the shadows by the boy in black armor.

‘So much for the brilliant plans of Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin, time for me to make a move and grab Ms. Marvel for Hala and got off the dirt ball before something else goes wrong!’

-

Back at Avengers Tower, Harry woke up from the sleep gas and found himself in the medical room unattended and unlike Kamala not strapped down, the memories slowly coming back to him…as was the rage!

‘If they hurt Dad, I will kill them!’ Harry thought as he got out of the bed and went down the hall, passing by Tony’s lab and getting a strange feeling. As if something calling him.

Jarvis was warning Harry to stay out of said labs, but the younger Osborn ignored this and as he went in, noticed a familiar black ooze slamming against the security glass of its prison.

“The V-252…” Harry whispered as he moved closer to what must be calling to him…both feeling need for revenge against the one who had wronged them!


	14. The Clash and the Mending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last half of the final battle is underway, though an old foe in a new form will come to challenge Kamala...can she win alone or will help come in time as she faces a foe who can Embiggen even better then she can?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go, just this and epilogue chapter! Hope you like it and can hopefully have the last one out next weekend but even this took longer then planned so not 100% sure.
> 
> The thing that happens in Kamala's nightmare is inspired by something I saw on youtube about Peter getting a chance to talk to his Uncle, not an exact copy but I thought it might be the simplest way finally get Kamala on the final track to healing without being to out of nowhere...though worried it might feel 'cheap'.

Chapter 14 – The Clash and the Mending

When the battle between the Intern Avengers and the villains of New York began, the Avengers had already reached orbit and were in full stealth mode in hope of catching Hala off guard at least a little, knowing she had been expecting them ever since the capture of Kaboom and Kamran.

The quinjet was dead silent as the team worried about their interns, though one came to mind more than the others, Kamala. They knew they needed to send her out, no one could be left behind to protect her and more importantly she most likely needed to be there.

If she was to ever actually get past her trauma, they needed to show they trusted her rather than wait for the time there was zero chance her lashing out in anger against those who had wronged her. Such a thing was impossible, the only way for her to move on was to allow her have chance to succeed or fail and help her should latter happened.

“So…what’s the game plan? Find the Inhumans and sneak them out if possible or go straight for the bridge and take the Accuser out?” Hawkeye asked, wanting to break the silence just as much to know what they were going to do.

After another moment of silence Captain America spoke, “I think it should be both ideas; Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and myself will go for the Accuser and whatever troops she has while you and Black Widow find the Inhumans and try and free them. With any luck not too many have been converted to her side by whatever means she has resorted to.”

“Just the two of us two move that many, most of which are kids or teenagers going by the Intel? Not impossible but we might need to wait until you guys are fully engaged with the Kree, minimize the number of guards we will need to deal with as we get the Inhumans back to the quinjet,” Widow commented, getting nod from Hawkeye who saw the logic in Cap’s plan as it would at least attempt to be a stealth mission over direct combat for their part, though the execution might be a challenge.

“Between your stealth skills and Hawkeye’s arrows it sounds like you got the best chance of staying undetected long enough for at the locate portion of the mission, after that it will defiantly depended on how much of a show the four of us put on…good thing for your guys I’m part of the show!” Iron Man countered, being a bit boastful to help lighten the mood much to everyone relief.

“You’re a terrible influence on Peter, maybe he would be more serious during training or when on patrol if he was not thinking what you do is an example of proper behavior for a superhero!” Captain America stated dryly, though more for keep the lighter mood alive then to lecture Tony.

“Don’t compare me to him, I do it with fewer lines and all are higher quality!” Iron Man replied as the Kree warship, so far no signs they had been detected. Time make the blue skinned aliens wish they never messed the Inhumans, Kamala especially!

-

Not long later, Hala was on the bridge awaiting Exile report on Osborn’s plans for the strike on Avengers Tower, when the alarms went off and the ship actually shook!

“What is going on? Report!” Hala demanded, thinking it must be the Avengers…but if so where was Osborn’s supposed warning? No matter, she would destroy him personally once the current crisis was dealt with.

“Getting confirmation Accuser…putting footage of the attackers on the main screen!” one of Hala’s soldiers responded, showing the woman the image of the Hulk and Thor leading the charge through the ship’s corridors, the path clearly showing it was the bridge as the destination. Captain Marvel must have been the one to advise Avengers on the layout of Kree warships, given they were clearly heading this way with purpose.

‘Where is the woman…or the other two Avengers? True the archer is a powerless fool but still be to be missing three of its members…they must be helping young ones they now training alongside the girl,’ Hala concluded, thinking the only way even that fool Osborn could fail so completely was the children had that much help. It was either that or Osborn had betrayed her, but Hala did not think even Osborn could be that foolish.

-

As Hala’s attention was focused on the foursome that was heading her way, Black Widow and Hawkeye were heading to prisoner level of the ship, it being the most likely place to hold at least the unwilling to join Kree would be there. Some clearly have opted to be willing soldiers at least three Inhumans had sided with Hala.

The pair had needed take down a few soldiers along the way, but most had clearly headed to face the fast approaching intruders near the bridge so it was smoothing sailing so far.

Upon reaching one cell, they found three occupants two young children and one teen with bright redhead teenager close to the age of Peter or Kamala. The two little ones hide behind redhead who’s hands became engulfed in flames as he demanded, “Are here to do the same to us as you did to Ms. Marvel?”

This made Back Widow raise an eyebrow at what clearly sounded like an accusation while Clint asked, “Care to explain what we ‘did to her’?”

“You arrested her without a trial and took everything from her! She was hero like you Avengers and you did not even give her a chance…you even let her city burn despite people calling out for her help! Because of that many of us have been considering joining the Kree…better to be soldiers then treated like criminals for battles we did not choose to be a part of when you came to ‘recue’ us!” The redhead stated with growl, making both adults go wide eyed. Hala was twisting the events caused over the last few months to probably convert the less willing Inhumans to her side!

Black Widow accessed her wrist communicator and accessed the quinjets transmitter to hopefully reach Captain Marvel, the older hero a safer option just in case the battle was still raging and not risk distracting Kamala at a bad moment.

“Captain Marvel we have an issue we need to talk Ms. Marvel about, is she safe or can you at least pull her from the battle without risking her team?” Black Widow asked, praying Kamala could set the record straight.

“Battle? Team?” The confused redhead asked, while Hawkeye smirked and say, “We may have taken her to the tower but let’s just say the kid has not been the prisoner you think she has been. By the way if you play War-ow!”

Black Widow used her free hand to take a shock stick and smack her partner over the head before he could finish saying that evil word when she got lucky and Captain Marvel could reply quickly and appeared on the holo screen the communicator projected.

“Just finishing the wrap actually, the web head caused rift between the six and the goblin so made dealing with the muscle a lot easier, barely needed to do anything besides deal with the cannon fodder…told you I should have joined the strike team!” Captain Marvel answered, before redirecting the signal to Kamala’s communicator who seemed more depressed then Widow would have liked was at least seemed willing to talk.

“You okay Ms. Marvel? We need your help assuring the other Inhumans your okay and not being mistreated but if you’re not up for it…” Black Widow started to say, but the image of the young girl just shook it off and reply, “Just worried about Spidey, he took a hit for me from Shocker…I did not react well…but I can help with whatever you need Nat.”

“We can talk about when we see each other later then, right now can you assure our friend here?” Widow promised, knowing the girl had been far too many situations where people who had made her life hell be her opponents. That would hopefully end tonight.

As Black Widow turned the holo screen to the redhead and had him repeat what he told them, so Kamala could set the record straight.

-

The bridge meanwhile was in chaos, Kree laser fire combined with a dozen Inhumans who believed the lies of Hala focused fire the four Avengers, Hulk and Thor trying their best to tank the hits but even though each one was weak alone, but combined even the two very durable heroes could only take so much.

“We need to take a gamble and try to rush them, we can’t just sit here and let them whittle us down!” Iron Man called out to Captain America who agreed and both men charged past their heavy hitters to try and take out some of the range attackers.

Cap’s shield easily absorbed the hits and let him break the enemy line, while Iron Man dodged as best he could while in flight and let loose the barrage of concessive missiles into their ranks so to that any of the Inhumans would be spared while still thinning the number of Kree firing at them.

“It seems its time to smash friend Hulk!” Thor joked, but his big green comrade was more than willing to take it as an invitation and both dove forward join their friends who continue to to keep the enemy from focusing fire on them again.

Hala seeing this knew she needed to take out one of the two leaders so to crush the spirit of the rest. Of the two, Hala knew who would be the easiest to defeat and would also be something to use against Ms. Marvel, assuming Exile did not fail in capturing the girl after Osborn failed to do so!

Hala called forth her staff, a blade on either end, dove to attack at the Captain with intent on destroying the man. One of the downside to the events of the Stark Expo was he had publicly called Ms. Marvel his student, it made him a weak point for the child, one that Hala would use to break her and remake her into an obedient weapon of the Kree!

“Cap in coming on your left!” Iron man called out, giving Captain America just enough time to block the incoming strike from Hala with his shield, his feet digging in as the Kree warrior tried to overpower him.

“You are strong for a human…but you are still human and are nothing compared to me! To think the girl believes you could make her the warrior she is meant to be!” Hala growled, not knowing she was only stoking the fire that had been building in super solider for awhile.

“You say warrior but I think you mean weapon! Ms. Marvel is a hero and would never desire to be what your empire would demand of her!” Captain America shot back, pushing forward for a split second to make Hala try to counter shove, only for him to relent and side step.

For moment Hala came stumbling forward but quickly caught herself and fired a purple beam of energy from her staff at the Captain, block with shield while trying push forward so close the gap once again.

“All that she is, is granted to her from the efforts of the Kree! It is her duty to serve!” Hala stated as she increased the power of her weapon’s beam though the Captain still pressed onward.

“Her only duty is to what she believes in her heart and neither I nor my team will allow you make her believe otherwise!” Captain America shot back, a hint of a smirk on his face, making Hala realize her mistake too late. She was not just fighting Captain America, but the Avengers!

Before she had a chance to confirm her surrounding, a massive green hand grabbed her by the head before it slammed her into the ground, followed by blast of lightning and a barrage of repulsor blasts.

None of this meant to defeat Hala out right, but it did make her realize she might have underestimated Avengers even she had the advantage of superior numbers…even more so when additional barrage of attacks hit her from the far side of the room, an exploding arrow, a burst of electrical discharges and a stream of flames!

The new additional to the battle cause a short halt to the conflict as all saw Black Widow, Hawkeye and the remaining holdouts of the Inhumans who had not agreed to Hala’s terms of join the Kree Empire as foot soldiers.

“It’s over Hala, Ms. Marvel told me the truth! You lied and altered events to fit the narrative that almost convinced us to join you!” the redheaded boy stated as he prepared another blast of flames in case the Kree or their leader made a move.

“And if anyone of those who agreed to join Hala are worried Ms. Marvel might be only saying what we want, she is more than willing talk to you all in New Attilan, the city of Inhumans. Queen Medusa would never allow Ms. Marvel to be pressured into lying on our behalf,’ Black Widow added, making Hala become furious.

“Oh yes like any of that could not be lied about until they get what they…” Hala started to say, but then the ship shook and moments later Captain Marvel flew in, looking a bit disappointed the fight seemed to be over.

“You guys are quick I’ll give you that but you could not have let me get a crack at the Accuser? Clearly I got my work cut out for me to get those kids taking their foes down faster! The six and Osborn are on their way to the Cellar and the Interns are heading for the tower so all that is left whatever that remains to do here,” Captain Marvel stated smugly, crossing her arms and making it clear to even the prideful Hala that it would be foolish to try and continue.

No one realized yet though the one Hala knew as Exile was still on loose and still trying to complete his mission of capturing Ms. Marvel, as so far both groups thought the other had dealt with him.

-

“I’ll go tell May about Peter, you guys get him to the medical bay,” Kamala told her two fellow interns, just as much to avoid seeing Harry Osborn as it was to let Peter’s aunt know about his condition.

“You sure you don’t want one of us with you? You know, just in case your brother uses it as an example to…” Amadeus started to say, but stopped when Kamala shook her head.

“Naani will be there, I’ll be fine…assuming she does not finally get turned to his way of thinking, but I’ll worry about that if and when it happens,” Kamala assured her big green teammate and headed off for the front room while the other two interns got Peter to the medical bay.

As Kamala entered the room though, she was met with the site of her family and Peter’s aunt pinned to the wall by a familiar looking black slime and bound and their mouths covered in the same thing; Lockjaw looked beat up and bound to the floor in the same way, clearly trying to defend the people Kamala cared about and must have passed out after his defeat. In the middle of the room stood a large black monster with sharp teeth, reptile like tongue and white lightning bolt on its chest.

“Welcome home Kamala…we have been waiting for you!” The monster growled, before enlarging its first and then morphing it into a spiked mace. Kamala barely had time to dodge as the monster’s arm shot forward in the same way she did when punching, this made Kamala realize what she was fighting, the V-252…but who was it bonded with?

-

At the same time the other two interns were entering the med bay, only to find a boy in black armor waiting for them.

“So the last of the trio is here…sorry Ms. M is not taking any visitors, care to leave message at the end of my fist?” Amadeus state darkly, punching his palm as if promising a world of hurt.

“Great the bad jokes are contagious,” Iron Heart grumbled, slowly backing out of the room with Peter so not get in Amadeus’ way.

The one in black armor was not intimated though, seeming far too confident for someone about to fight a hulk class hero, even if he was still in training.

“Hate to break it to you wannabe Hulk, but unlike those two losers I am in a completely different league! And don’t bother calling on that stupid AI of yours, I took care of his core systems when I arrived. We won’t be interrupted!” the one armor gloated, before the dark energy that he used to create weapons enveloped his body and he started to grow in size.

-

Back in the front room Kamala felt a small rumble and heard the sound of crashing but could not stop to worry about due to the continuing attacks from the V-252 and whoever its host was. Kamala knew at the very least the V-252 was on par with Spider-Man in terms of strength when she was bonded with it and it clearly had her abilities on an augmented level…or did it gain them from her and just ramp them up?

‘I’m living my worst nightmare; at least it does not look like Ms. Marvel!’ Kamala thought as she kept dodging or bending out of the way of the attacks the moved faster than she normally performed them and with constantly changing weapons, axes, spear heads, half moon shaped blades and so on, it was like fighting an arsenal that launched at her like an Embiggened punch!

“Regret rejecting us yet? At least our new host seems to appreciate our gifts!” the V-252 mocked as Kamala did her best to avoid getting hit by the barrage of deadly attacks.

“And who would bond with you? Speaking from personal experience your ‘gifts’ come at the price of being stuck in a permanent state of rage and I’m having a hard time handling small bursts of that!” Kamala shot back, finally trying to close the gap and charge forward, every time she needed to dodge she launched her arm out like a whip at the monster’s legs to try and break his stance and hopefully throw off the pace of the attacks.

Sadly the V-252 just took the hits like they were nothing, if anything the only reason Kamala was getting closer was because it wanted her to. Kamala knew this but she needed to get in to close range and try and hit as hard as she could. Stretch punches would not be enough for this brute, she need the heavy blows!

As she got in range though, the V-252 enlarged its claw like hand and slammed it down onto her, pinning her to the floor.

“You really want to know? Well, let us show you then!” the V-252 declared, before its mouth opened up to unnatural lengths and a human face appeared, Harry Osborn’s!

“You should have kept this thing, the power is beyond even what the green gave us! But you rejected it and turned our best friend against us! He was what the Symbiote wanted until you got in the way and gave us the taste of that sweet anger and hate you kept buried deep down…now we are poison to all you hold dear…we are Venom!” Harry/Venom declared, before have the mouth close back into position and raise its free hand into position to strike.

But the fist came down, Kamala shrank in size, making the blow shattered the hard wood floor and spare the fate of possibly being destroyed right then and there.

As Venom tried to figure out where his target went, Kamala returned to normal size behind him and called out, “Let’s take this outside!” before grabbing the monster with both enlarged hands and threw him out onto the large balcony.

Kamala started to head outside as well, when the muffled protests of Aamir and the other two women in the room caught her attention and gave them most reassuring look she could muster, “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with this quickly and then come get you free from that gunk.”

Kamala was not as confident as she appeared and the trio knew it, but at the same knew the girl was not going to back down and accepted this…well the two women did, Aamir was struggling with all his might to get free as his sister went back into the fray.

-

Back with Amadeus and Iron Heart, the growing form of Exile shattered the floor the trio and caused them to crash through several of them until they reached the lobby. Iron Heart was still safely back at the top thanks to both backing out of the room previously plus her thrusters, so she could keep herself and Spider-Man safe but Amadeus was shaking off the express trip down to the bottom floor.

“You plan that or you just careless…I so do not want to be you when Pepper Potts gets in tomorrow!” Amadeus asked as he got up and noticed just big his opponent had gotten in some kind of demon like form made of the energies he created his weapons and armor out of, at least two stories tall and not meant for even the rather large lobby.

“Don’t know or care who that is, just tell me where Ms. Marvel is before I crush you!” Exile declared, just before he backhanded Amadeus and sent him flying outside into the street outside. It was very late evening on thanksgiving so not busy but still people watched in confusion, then horror as Amadeus came crashing out of the tower’s main entrance and followed by some kind of monster!

As people scattered to avoid getting caught in the battle, Amadeus’ anger grew as he got fed up with getting smacked around and leapt forward and upward to punch Exile in the face, causing the massive monster to fall back into the hole he made upon exiting the tower.

“Never anger a hulk…or Potts, neither is a good thing!” Amadeus stated firmly, just before Exile lifted his head up enough unleash a blast of bluish black flames from his mouth that started to push Amadeus back…until a unibeam from above as Iron Heart joined the battle.

“Riri what are you doing? Spider-Man…” Amadeus started to say, but needed to dodge as the massive claws of Exile swung at him and Iron Heart, trying to take out at least one annoyance out of the way as Iron Heart kept firing her regular repulsers after her unibeam stopped.

“Spider-Man is safe, right now we need to take this guy down before someone down here gets hurt!” Iron Heart called back, hoping the two of them would be enough to stop this monster!

It was an easier said than done task though as Exile’s monster form was made of pure dark energy, it was very hard to damage and clearly could hold its own against even the hulk like strength of Amadeus who was knew he needed to truly get mad but it was just not in his nature to let go like that.

“Pathetic you think one who tried to mimic the real Hulk would have posed at least some challenge! The copy of the Iron Fool is one thing, but at least the actual Hulk would have been something I would have feared…you two combined though does not even match Stark in power!” Exile mocked, which was trigger for both teens at being compared to the two heroes yet again!

“Now you asked for it!” Amadeus growled, leaping into the air slamming his fist right into the face of Exile again, the shockwave shattering windows and causing cracks to form in the body the villain had created to battle the two interns.

“Looks like you’re not invincible! Pour it on Cho!” Iron Heart called out, gathering powering up another unibeam and firing at the cracks in Exile’s demon face, while Amadeus dove at Exile’s chest, slamming his fists with his might over and over again in hopes of breaking the giant demon form and getting to the boy inside.

-

Back on the balcony, Venom was shaking off being thrown outside by Kamala and was looking up just in time for him to see what she liked to call the ‘double barrel’ punch come flying at him. Sadly for Kamala, Venom easily got each massive fist in his own claw like hands, though what did catch him by surprise was the follow up kick Kamala delivered by pulling forwards while still in Venom’s grasp!

Both of Kamala’s booted feet triples in size as she slammed with all the force she could master, which broke Venom’s grasp, though only just barely. Kamala knew this meant she needed to keep the attacks coming and hope they were add up enough to finally bring her opponent down!

With flurry of rapid strikes, Kamala hammered on Venom, getting ready to end it with her two hands enlarging to come together like a clap, but Venom clearly finally both recovered and was annoyed with the constant bug bites that were Kamala’s attacks.

As the two hands came together, Venom formed its own hands into piercing spikes and thrust them outward, causing Kamala to scream in pain as they punctured her hands! Both combatants returned their hands to normal, though in Kamala’s case it was too heal while for Venom used this chance to grab her by hair and start slamming her into the ground over and over again.

“So weak! So pathetic! Why did we think you could be our host! After we are done with you, we will…” Venom started say, but then was cut off by a massive piece of impact webbing, halting his assault on Kamala as all but portion of the arm that holding his victim.

“That’s…enough…” Spider-Man weakly growled, making Kamala glad to see him up but terrified that he was trying to fight in an injured state.

“Spider-Man it’s Harry! Leave him to me or you might get hurt worse!” Kamala called out, stunning her boyfriend at the new of who the V-252 had bonded with and gave Venom time to break free of the webbing.

“So…both the one who rejected us and the other who betrayed us are here…good! We will destroy you both!” Venom roared once free and stretched out its arms to attack Spider-Man, who was clearly the weaker of the two targets right now.

Seeing this Kamala used chance to Embiggen her arms and knock Venom’s legs out from under him, this time having more luck do to having more mass rather than length. This through off Venom’s aim enough to spare Spider-Man from the grab and call out a little code him and Kamala came up with.

“Ms. Marvel, high mine!” the arachnid themed hero yelled, while the stretchy girl just smirked and enlarged one of her palms and held it up high for Spider-Man to fire a trip mine into the attach to it.

“Let’s see how you like it!” Kamala called out and she pointed the mine towards Venom, who was snagged by the web line and then stuck to the palm by the burst of webbing that followed. Kamala then proceeded to slam Venom around like he had done when grabbing her by her hair!

It barely took half dozen slams thought for Venom to have enough of getting hammered into the ground before he did a little Embiggening of his own and enlarged his body to break free of the webbings and leap away from Kamala’s palm, moving to attack Spider-Man but even in his weakened state Spider-Man could still roll out of the way as a spike mace smashed the ground where he once stood.

“Toys and tricks can only slow us for so long!” Venom roared in rage, getting tired of being made to look weak by such cheap tricks, making Venom not pay enough attention to the charging Kamala who jumped into the air at the last moment to launch a new trick she had been working on once she had her powers back.

“We don’t are not trying to slow you down, we are trying to beat you!” Kamala called out as she enlarged on fist and sent it flying downward toward Venom stunning him on impact, leaving him open for four more following up power blows, before finishing one final giant fist that knocked Venom to the ground and caused cracks to forms in the floor beneath him.

“So…finally got to use ‘Fists of Justice’ I see…oh you got to be kidding me!” Spider-Man commented while watching their foes seemed to be getting back up from all that.

Even after all the punishment the pair had caused the Symbiote, it clearly was able to just keep going! Was this it’s normal ability or was the green fluid Harry drank also boosting it?

“Wait…did you…copy all my powers?!” Kamala asked in shock, realizing not only might Venom be just plain tough but it could healing as well!

If Spider-Man’s face could seen, it would have been visibly pale as Venom laughed manically, it knew both heroes had finally figured one of the reasons they could not win!

“We have done more than copy your powers, we have improved them as shown by our ability to make weapons…we have had other hosts and could make simple blades before, but your powers have enhanced it to where we can make any kind we desire. Your healing has also augmented the one we already possessed! We grow with each new host, you cannot win!” Venom declared, thinking it had proved its superiority but all it did was give Spider-Man an idea and quickly accessed one gadget who had not had ready when trying to catch Black Widow.

“If you have her powers then let’s see if you got everything that comes with them!” Spider-Man yelled out as he cranked up the power what he called electric webbing, a web shot packed with enough voltage he hoped to would affect Venom on some notable level given how Kamala’s powers were weak to electric surges, though unknown to him, the V-252 half of Venom had its own issues with it on its own.

Venom roared in pain though clearly even at max setting the electric webbing was not made for a heavy weight like the alien ooze. Spider-Man had intended to it for handling thugs and the less durable super villains, but it still had some effect.

“Ms. Marvel, we need more juice or a new approach if we want to bring the V-252 down!” Spider-Man called out as he tried to keep Venom down with additional electric webbing attacks, but he only had some many shots before that option ran out. It did leave Venom weakened, but not defeated as it tried to charge Spider Man again, but Kamala stopped him out stretching her arms and pulling the monster back.

“Well unless you can think of a way to bring a power cable from the tower’s arc reactor to the balcony I can’t see how we are getting anything stronger then that!” Kamala called back as she suplexed Venom by going giant. The downside of this was both the force of the blow and her increased mass combined with all previous attacks made the large balcony have enough with the abuse.

As the section Kamala and Venom now stood began to grumble, Spider-Man forced his tired body to dash forward and fire web line toward his girlfriend with one hand while making a web parachute with the other, leaving Venom to fend himself and might have even taken too much damage for him to walk away from if not for if not for a shockwave from below slowing his fall.

“What the hay?!” Kamala cried out as she and her boyfriend got shot back upward by the same wave, needing several moments regain control from the sudden change in direction.

“First fudge now hay…your parents deserve a medal because even I can be prone to swearing on occasion but you censor yourself with ease!” Spider-Man quipped though Kamala could tell he was struggling to keep hold of the chute while holding the line that kept her safe.

Kamala would have called out for Spider-Man to let go to lessen the strain on himself, but a familiar roar drew their attention back to the ground below and saw Amadeus and Venom now fighting while Iron Heart seemed to be securing some unconscious boy in a grey body suite, not knowing it was the boy in black armor who’s lost the familiar form once he was demon form shattered and was knocked out from being forced out of it by the other two interns.

“Well that half explains why we have not seen them during the fight up there…wonder what that guy did to keep them so busy?” Kamala wondered aloud, as the two finally reached the ground and at least she got ready to join the battle again.

“Iron Heart! Amadeus! It’s the V-252 using Harry Osborn as a host so we needed some really strong voltage or sound!” Kamala yelled as she ran forward and helped Amadeus fight Venom, the alien suite now having trouble with the combined power of two heroes who could actively attack together over the long range support Spider- man was limited to.

“On it Ms. Marvel, I actually built some sonics into this suit, intended them to be for pacification of criminal but a little tweaking and…” Iron Heart called back, fiddling with the controls on her wrist and then pointed her hands at Venom and unleashed a constant wave of sonic waves.

“No! Stop it!” Venom demanded, the ooze and host starting to separate but clearly it was not enough.

“I’m guessing you can’t squeeze some more amps out of those?” Kamala asked, hoping she was wrong but Iron Heart just shook her head, clearly as stated before the sonic blasts has been meant for the same level of use at Spider-Man had developed for electric webbing, thugs and less durable villains. They were not like the salvaged ones Iron Heart used at the expo that were military grade weapons.

“Just our luck we had two things we could use but neither my electric webs nor Iron Heart’s sonics have the power we need on their own!” Spider-Man managed to say, despite clearly running on fumes at this point.

“Then perhaps we can lend a hand!” a voice Kamala knew well and turned to see Phil Coulson and a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exiting three large vans, each holding long rifle like weapons and pointed them at Venom. Said weapons fired cables at the monster and soon followed up with electric shocks that forced the two bonded beings to separate.

Harry fell to the ground out cold and Symbiote to weakly slither away but Iron Heart flew above it and kept pouring on the sound. Without a host to bring out its full potential, it clearly was no longer able to handle the sonic attacks.

As Iron Heart looked ready to finish the job the voice of Kamala called out, “Riri…stop…don’t kill it.”

Everyone looked to the girl who clearly held no love for the creature, but still somehow managed to find mercy something that held none for her. Clearly despite what Kamala thought, she was the Ms. Marvel those who knew her from before the incident.

“If you’re sure Marvel…anyone got a way to contain this thing?” Iron Heart asked, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents quickly providing the needed item and quickly captured the alien life form.

As the two groups quickly secured Harry and Exile, Phil looked to Kamala and said something Urdu that made Kamala look shocked and nervous but then replied, “Um…you promise?”

“Don’t worry Ms. Marvel, it won’t be like last time and others are watching closely this time, they want a peaceful wrap up to this given how we already got the report on the intern operation and the Avengers already contacted us about Hala. You did your job now it’s our turn plus it will get the last part you need to worry about out of the way,” Phil assured the young heroine, who hesitantly nodded and held out her hands in a way someone who waiting to be cuffed would.

“K-Ms. Marvel?!” Spider-Man managed to get out, before trying make his way over to Kamala but his legs finally giving out. Amadeus and Iron Heart also started move but stopped when Kamala just shook her head, while Phil Coulson placed heavy steel cuffs on the girl that were connected by a solid piece of metal and were designed like the nullifier to negate her powers.

“Don’t worry guys, I trust him and he assured me the Avengers will know before you even see them…I should be seeing you soon so please tell our guests to not worry…please free them soon,” Kamala assured her teammates and followed Phil who took her to a van while the rest of the agents moved Harry and Exile to another, while handing over the V-252 to Iron Heart.

In the van, Phil took out small zip lock bag that held some familiar pills to Kamala and also grabbed some bottled water that was stored in the van and asked, “You want skip the part of being led to the cell this time? With any luck the Avengers will be there to pick you up before you even wake up and won’t have any cases of déjà vu.”

Kamala just smiled sadly and nods, thinking she was never that lucky but it was worth a shot.

-

The next Kamala knew she was surrounded by fire again. She was no longer in her costume, back in the black t-shirt with a lightning bolt and grey sweat pants, the only shred of her desired self was the still irremovable mask. Even the nullifier was back, clearly even though in the waking world she had her powers, she still was denied them here.

“The one who claims to be our Kamala is back!” her Abu’s voice growled out, once again denying who Kamala was.

“At least she did not make a mess of everything for once, though even with those who were behind our deaths gone it was more thanks to other then her!” the voice of her Ammi added with clear accusation in her tone.

The words hurt because of who they sounded like and for moment Kamala felt weaker but then remember what Natasha had told her the night after defeating Kaboom. Now it was her turn to tell them off.

“ENOUGH! You are not my parents! You’re just-ah!” Kamala started to say, when felt a massive fist hit her from behind. Of course she could not tell the fakes off before her other self stepped in.

“Someone has finally grown a backbone…but don’t you dare talk to those you killed like that!” Ms. Marvel stated coldly, standing strong and confident in the very costume Kamala had been wearing not long ago.

“I did kill them…that was my fault…but those two voices are not them! My parents knew I was Ms. Marvel! They would not say I-uh!” Kamala tried to argue back, but was cut off by Ms. Marvel punching her in the stomach; followed by a jab and right cross combo to the face as the superheroine became livid while standing over Kamala who had fallen to the ground from the assault.

“One you were never Ms. Marvel, I was! You killed me like you killed the Khans! Two if those are not the Khans then who are they?!” Ms. Marvel demanded, continuing kick at Kamala who was forced to curl into a ball to minimize the damage.

“I don’t know but they are not my Ammi and Abu! They knew who I was, who I will be again…once I beat you!” Kamala managed to get out, before in desperation she grabbed onto Ms. Marvel’s leg as it connected and held on for dear life.

“Pathetic!” the voice of her Abu called out. Even though the voice was not truly him it still hurt to hear.

“Disgraceful!” Her Ammi’s added, rubbing further salt into the wound that was Kamala’s heart, she could feel her strength fading and once it was gone the kicking would begin again. But just as it almost disappeared, a new yet same voice spoke up.

“Be silent!” Kamala’s Abu roared out, this time it was that Ms. Marvel seemed to be reacting to it and Kamala felt the draining feel was fading away.

“Leave my daughter alone!” Kamala heard her Ammi yell out as well, Ms. Marvel seeming frantic as she pulled her foot free and stumble back while Kamala felt some of her strength return. More importantly the more ghostly voices of her parents fall silent, confusing Kamala even more.

‘What is going on?’ Kamala wondered as she tried to get up, only to feel two pairs of hands on either side her gently help her, one pair being large and strong, while the other smaller like her own, this of course made Kamala go tense because she knew these hands.

“Please no!” Kamala whispered in fear as she shut her eyes tight, thinking the voices had finally take physical form, that she would have face all three of her nightmare tormentors…until she felt one of the smaller hands let go and begin stroking her head much like her Naani had done at the hospital while visiting Aamir.

“Oh beta, what have you been doing to yourself?” Her Ammi asked, her voice full of sadness that finally making Kamala open her eyes and hesitantly look to the older woman and see no hate or anger.

“I think she has been blaming herself too much Muneeba,” the voice of Kamala Abu answered, causing Kamala look in the other direction to see the same sad expression on her father’s face.

‘Their…on my side now? Why?’ Kamala asked herself, trying figure out what was wrong with her subconscious but could not focus on this for long as she heard Ms. Marvel screaming out frantically.

“Ammi? Abu? Where are you?!” the other half of Kamala called out, as if ignoring the physical beings before her as seemed to be looking upward and around, as if looking for the disembodied voices. Did she see them as her parents? They did seem to help Ms. Marvel during the few moments Kamala found a way to fight back without help of the Avengers or the other interns.

As Kamala realized this though, Ms. Marvel looked back at the trio and became enraged and screamed out while growing to her giant size, “Give them back!”

Kamala watched in terror as her other self raised her foot to step on the three people and knew she had to do something but what? She could not use her powers here.

“That’s enough!” Kamala’s father yelled in a rage and seemed like he made Ms. Marvel hesitant long enough to lose balance and she needed to end the stomp to regain it, which gave the Khans a moment to speak to Kamala again.

“Beta…please answer me this time, what have you been doing to yourself? Is this you punishing yourself? Or is this…thing…what you are trying to be?” her Ammi asked, looking at the giant version of her daughter in disgust, before returning her gaze to Kamala though back to being more sad then anything.

“I…I deserve this…she is not as perfect as I first thought but…she could have saved you! She so far only lost to Thor and half of what he does is a giant weak point for her! Why shouldn’t she be doing this to me? I lost my ability to be her because I was too weak to keep going and needed to run off with the Avengers to hide in a tower! I’m so pathetic I can’t even get this off!” Kamala started to explain though it was like a river of emotions getting let loose as she soon started getting more and more upset, her hands now trying to rip the mask off again but failing.

“Kamala…” she heard her Abu say, pulling one of her hands away from the mask while Ammi did the same with the other.

“If saving us meant you had destroy so much of your best parts of yourself…would it have been worth it?” her Ammi asked, gently caressing Kamala’s face, confusing the girl even more as she realized they kept her calling her Kamala or beta.

“The best parts? She is weak! She runs away! She hides behind other! She does nothing but fail! I am better than her in every possible way!” Ms. Marvel exclaimed as she moved to step on the family again, but the two elder Khans were growing tired of the other girl’s interference.

“I said that is enough you hateful shadow of my daughter!” her Abu yelled, his furry much like when he and her got into fights back when she got caught sneaking back home after she started being Ms. Marvel.

“Like that will stop me this ti-ah!” Ms. Marvel started to say, but without thinking Kamala yelled out Embiggen and her hands expanded in size and her arms stretched out to intercept the foot, then kept going. They forced it back with so much force that Ms. Marvel fell backwards, landing only inches away from the wall of flames.

“How…how can you try to hurt them? We were supposed to protect them! Haven’t we hurt them enough?!” Kamala demanded, not realizing she had use her powers, only that she needed to stop her other self from hurting her parents even if they were just part of this nightmare.

“We are not the same person! I would never be as weak as you!” Ms. Marvel roared back, shrinking back down to normal and drew her fist back for punch, but stopped when Muneeba and Yusuf stepped in front Kamala as if to shield her from soon to come Embiggened punch.

“Your right, you are not our Kamala! You’re cruel! You’re spiteful! We never raised her to be like that!” Yusuf stated firmly as he glared at Ms. Marvel.

“You are nothing but something she created to hurt herself over something that was not her fault! We watched her fight Shocker on screen forced in front of us! She put herself through such pain to save us and even once she won all she did to achieve it was throw him into the water! You only inflict harm!” Muneeba screamed out, the combined anger clearing starting to shake Ms. Marvel while Kamala looked on in awe and confusion.

‘Why are they acting more like I remember? I never seen them this mad but…they are protecting me…caring about me…’ Kamala thought, only be drawn back from them again as she saw her other self regain her resolve and pull both arms back for a double-barrel punch, clearly aiming for her parents!

“Get out of my way!” Ms. Marvel screamed as she sent both massive fists forward, but again Kamala dove forward and pushed past her parents block the blow with two giant palms of her own, finally realizing she was doing it with the nullifier on.

“I…said…stop trying to hurt them! We swore to use these powers to do good! We also learned from Peter that with great power comes great responsibility! Why do you keep using them to hurt those we cared about?!” Kamala demanded while pushing the fists back, Ms. Marvel locking eyes with her.

“You hurt the ones I cared about! You took them for me…twice now! You created these imposters to save you and try and leave me all alone in this pit! How are you even using MY powers with that thing on?!” Ms. Marvel demanded, but before Kamala could answer, she Ammi’s small hands grab her left arm firmly.

Kamala looked at the woman in fear, but found her Ammi was solely focused on the nullifier and was actually ripping it off Kamala’s arm while her father spoke up.

“Maybe because it was not meant for her this time!” Yusuf replied for his daughter, taking it the nullifier from Muneeba after she came back to his side, making Ms. Marvel’s eyes widen with fear for a moment, but returning to a scowl.

“Like I’ll let you put that thing on me! Even if she tried to help you, I just slip free before it has a chance to get locked on, let alone turned on!” Ms. Marvel shot back, though was surprised that this comment did not faze the Khans.

“We would not allow her to! She has been hurting herself enough as it is!” Yusuf countered, before marching over to Ms. Marvel with the nullifier in hand, the superheroine clearly unimpressed as she simply grew her legs to enough length to keep her arms out of reach and made said legs thick enough to prevent it from placed on them either.

“So…how do you plan on putting it on me now you…” Ms. Marvel started to say, when a red, blue and yellow figure came crashing down from the sky and drove Ms. Marvel down with her.

“Maybe this is how!” Captain Marvel stated, reaching for the familiar bracelet on Ms. Marvel’s arm and ripping it off while Ms. Marvel was still dazed and throwing to Muneeba, while Yusuf secured the nullifier in the bracelet’s place.

“N-No! Not you! Anyone but you! You’re my idol! Why are you letting them take my powers!” Ms. Marvel screamed out in horror, her legs being forced back to their normal length as the device kicked it, the now former superheroine reaching out for the bracelet that both halves cherished.

“Maybe I’m because backing the real Ms. Marvel. I maybe still getting to know her, but I like what I have seen of her…you not so much!” Captain Marvel stated coldly, reminding Kamala of how the woman was after the mission at the school.

“This was not planned…but at least it better than having Kamala hurt herself…technically…but neither I nor my wife are done with you just yet!” Yusuf stated, as he forced Ms. Marvel to her feet while Captain Marvel held her in place.

“What else can you take from me?! I’m trapped here and you put this thing on me! There is nothing left for you to…no…not that…anything but that!” Ms. Marvel started to say, but both girls realized what Yusuf could be planning as he looked down at the giant yellow lightning bolt on her burkini.

“Yes…that!” Yusuf stated coldly, as Muneeba went over to Kamala and gently placed the bracelet on her arm and whisper, “Just one more moment beta and we can talk…we first need finish ‘grounding’ this thing you created to punish yourself.”

With a kiss to the forehead, Muneeba walked away and rejoin husband, both grabbing onto the burkini and pulled with all their might. The cloth let out a ripping sound as blue burkini was torn to shreds, the red body suit underneath soon following as Ms. Marvel begged and pleaded for them to stop but they fell on deaf ears. When they finally stepped back enough for Kamala to see, Ms. Marvel stood in only the same outfit she was wearing though the clothes in the more beat up state the real version was in the waking world.

“Yusuf…I think that is still not enough…that device still has our daughter’s colors on it and that symbol on the shirt is hers as well!” Muneeba pointed out, making Ms. Marvel scream no as the older woman took out a handkerchief and start scrubbing the nullifier.

In the waking world what happened would not have been possible, but in the dream world, Kamala could easily believe that the tiny piece of cloth could wipe away the paintjob Tony had put in the device and leave just a dull steel grey casing, let alone wipe away the symbol that had been a comfort to Kamala the last few months and leaving nothing but a plain black t-shirt.

Kamala could actually feel her heart break for the other version her as she sobbed as the last traces of heroine's identity was stripped away, the only part remaining was the mask which Yusuf had moved to take for a moment but was stopped by his wife.

“No Yusuf, I refuse to see this ‘thing’s’ face! The only time I want to see that is on my real daughter’s!” Muneeba explained, before gathering up the shreds of cloth and tossing them into the nearby wall of flames.

“NO! Are you going to leave me with nothing?!” Ms. Marvel screamed out in horror, watching as the one thing she might have been able to cling to for comfort was destroyed by the very flames she ones used to torment Kamala with.

“As if you showed my daughter any similar kind of mercy! Beside…they look much better on her, though I like the new scarf. It gives her a little bit of distance from you but still be true to person she wants to be again,” Muneeba replied, looking back at Kamala fondly who was confused at these words until she looked down.

Kamala found herself back in her costume…but when? When she defended them from the other Ms. Marvel? When her parents destroyed Ms. Marvel’s costume and revealed her in the other outfit?

Clearly this only angered Ms. Marvel who screamed out, “If she is your ‘daughter’ then let her prove it…oh wait she can’t! She can’t take off that mask to prove who she is!”

Kamala took a step back at this statement of fact, she had already proved it earlier that the mask would not come off so if her parents demanded she did so, she would fail!

“That is enough of you hurting her! We know who she is, just like we know what you are!” Yusuf shot back, while both he and his wife made their way over to Kamala and both reached towards her face.

Getting scared Kamala clenched her eyes shut, think they were about do something painful, but was surprise as she felt the mask get pulled away with ease and look up to see their smiling faces.

“Silly beta, making such a big deal of such simple thing,” her Ammi teased, while her Abu pulled her into a hug.

“Kamala, we don’t have much time left but I must ask…is this what you truly want?” Yusuf asked, gesturing to the lightning bolt on her chest. He clearly was asking about Ms. Marvel.

“Y-Yes…if I can ever find my way back to her…without becoming like that version…” Kamala answered, hesitantly looking to the seething girl that was still restrained by Captain Marvel.

“Why do you think you need to find her again beta? From the way you protected us during all of this seems like you never stopped,” Her Abu replied, looking at his daughter with pride while her Ammi stroked her head comfortingly.

“After I failed when you needed me most? What kind of hero does that make…” Kamala started say, but stopped when her father shook his head with a sad smile on face and her mother stopped stroking her head to place her hand firmly on Kamala’s shoulder.

“You did not fail Kamala, if anything you did what you could and the ones who killed us simply did what they always intended. If anything, we failed you when we made you think you needed to run away…it made us lose those precious few days we could have spent with you before the end,” Muneeba told her child, who shook her head as tears started to flow.

“If I had not ran away I might have been able to keep at least one of you safe!” Kamala cried out, remembering what Tony had told her about what most likely would have happened under the assumption her parents had been targets for being her parents and not at random. Clearly after everything she had learned recently, the trio did know who Ms. Marvel was and her parents had not been chosen at random!

“And then you would still be grieving for one of us possibly while the other was worried about you while the Avengers tried to keep you safe,” Muneeba answered gently while Yusuf took his turn speak again.

“All that matters now is you follow your own path and live a happy life beta, we expect to have a long wait before we meet again Kamala. And so you don’t think this was just purely a dream, tell Mr. Rodgers we thank him for what he is going to do and has our blessing. Also check for a false bottom in the nightstand next to our bed for something I know your Naani is still setting up with our lawyer,” Yusuf instructed, confusing Kamala at what he was talking about.

“And if being Ms. Marvel is what you truly want; know that you have our blessing on that as well, even if we do still wish you were safe. Its time your new family take our place in guiding you, but never forget we will always be proud of you beta…our little marvel!” Muneeba said as she started cry as everything was getting lighter.

Kamala soon realized she was waking and they had been dropping hints…they were not just dreams they might very well be them!

-

“No wait!” Kamala called out, as she woke in a medical bay she did not recognize, though there were people she knew nearby, Steve, Natasha, her Naani…and Nick Fury!

“Easy Kamala, it was just a dream,” Natasha said, thought was slipping a small golden box into her belt pouch while Steve and Kamala’s Naani just gave her a knowing look. She had told them what the box would do and a certain Sorcerer Supreme she had contacted to get it from as part of her many small schemes she had been preparing since overhearing Kamala talking with her Naani about fearing leaving the tower.

“I don’t know about that Nat…” Kamala said as she wiped away a tear while Steve put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Regardless solider, let’s focus the situation we are in…you sure you are ready for what Coulson told you? Particularly since its the S.H.I.E.L.D. version.” Steve asked, eyeing Fury since trust for the man was not exactly high right now.

“Relax Rodgers, I have little reason to pick another fight with the Avengers. By this time next month Ms. Khan will be free both in and out of costume…so long as she actually up for such a thing, but that is up the program to deal with. Our role is to get the story in place and make it convincing,” Fury replied, being about as reassuring as the serious man could be given how he did not regret is choices from before.

“Which will be what exactly?” Kamala’s Naani asked wearily, only knowing the bare minimum of what this man had done her granddaughter.

“Don’t worry, I know the practices well, Kamala will be hungry a lot but it will done in a controlled enough way it will just make her look under fed but not in terrible shape…and I’ll be with her the whole time. I hope you guys will be able to handle yourselves without me for a month,” Natasha assured the elderly lady, then look to Steve with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m sure we can manage Natasha. And you be ready for work when you get back Ms. Field Leader!” Steve told the spy, before dropping that bit of news on Kamala who looked to him shock.

“But Spider-Man…” Kamala started to say but the Captain shook his had before speaking again.

“Spider-Man insisted and he made clear of you desire to make him your right hand anyway. When you get back, there be a list of candidates for you both to go over to grow the intern program. But Natasha and you can talk about the details later, you just let the next dose of that go into your system and have a much needed chat with your grandmother. Natasha and I need to go over some details with the director,” Steve told his student, just before the three left to have their talk while also letting the two Khan women have theirs.

Kamala unsure what Steve meant so was silent until her Naani asked, “So…you were able to talk with them?”

Kamala went wide-eyed at hearing this but put her own questions away because frankly she was still trying to figure out if she believed it or not so focused on answering one she was asked.

“I think so…they said I had their blessing…it’s hard to believe but so much was strange about that dream I’m not sure of anything,” Kamala explained , getting a knowing smile from her Naani.

“Then I’ll put my foot down with Aamir and get him understand who his sister is!” her Naani promised, making Kamala smile sadly since she figured the whole Venom fight probably freaked him out.

-

Back with Furry and the two Avengers he was handing them a folder which Widow was going intently while Steve asked, “Is this a peace offering or just business as usual?”

“I stand my previous decision to remove Ms. Khan from the tower, though I do acknowledge in the end she did help wrap thing up. This is something I was holding onto from before my move on her as part the old deal. Either way, the DA will not be a concern…no matter what you choose to do with the new ‘face’ of this intern program of yours,” Fury responded while Natasha handed the folder to Steve so he could show to the others later.

“Have Clint keep an eyes things until I get back from this final bit with Kamala and getting her life in order Steve…don’t have too much fun without me!” Natasha commented, though Steve gave her a look that said 'no promises'. No one messed with his student and those who had already had his personal attention since WW2!


	15. Finally Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kamala starts to put her life back together, though some surprises are still in order. Plus, she and Peter begin to grow the intern program to face the future while helping Peter put old matters to rest. Is she ready to find out what home truly is, though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the final chapter of Shattered Marvel; while I have no plans for a sequel, I do note it does leave lots of room for it since I kept the final fate of many of the villains unmentioned and added new characters, but this was more to show that as superheroes, there is no 'final boss' just an end to the current big bad.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this story and I'll hopefully have more stories soon. I will also be going back to clean up old chapters further since I'm using Grammarly now. There is no exact schedule for when that will happen, but I will hopefully chip away while still working on various new ideas.

Chapter 15 – Finally Home

It was Christmas Day in Jersey, one month since the battle at Avengers Tower that made the news. The part that causes the most confusion was Ms. Marvel’s arrest by SHIELD since no one could find out what she did to warrant it.

Tony Stark had gone on record that it was a formality due to her previous house arrest rules but would not elaborate, which had nearly caused more riots in Jersey. Nikia used her position as one of those who spearheaded the ‘Free Ms. Marvel’ movement to keep everyone calm and avoid this outcome.

It had slowly faded from everyone’s mind as the holidays approached; the hustle and bustle became a distraction for everyone. So much so that no one paid attention to a lone teenager in a beat-up pair of blue jeans and a worn navy blue winter jacket with the hood up as they made their way to the front door of the police station.

Inside at the front desk was not busy, so the teen could easily walk up to the woman handling it; a middle-aged woman doing paperwork and briefly looked up, so she confirmed she acknowledged the youth’s presence.

“Here to report something?” The woman asked, continuing her work as she waited for the youth’s response, which was one she was not expecting.

“I’m…here to turn myself in…” The teen said, slowly take her hood down and letting the woman get a good look at her face. Something that still took a few moments for the woman to recognize the girl because of the dirty hair, plus the face was thinner than the missing posters the parents had posted months back.

“Name?” the officer asked gently, giving the teen a sad smile as this was more to be sure before getting the remaining family hopeful.

“K-Kamala Khan”

-

An hour later, Kamala was sitting near the front desk, officers checking on her every so often to find out if she needed anything, but she said she was alright with the hot chocolate someone brought her earlier.

The whole time being about Kamala explaining where she had been the last few months. She said she had used her remaining money to leave for New York after what happened out of the fear of running away and grief for her loss. Even once she heard her brother had woken up, she had been too scared to come home; she felt like it was wrong to go back after being gone for so long, but the cold and hunger had finally worn her down.

‘How does Nat do this on the fly? Not sure if I could have pulled this off without the month of coaching!’ Kamala thought as she drank the warm liquid. It had been a hard month of both prepping the story plus slowly helping her lose weight to look like she had struggled to eat regularly. It took fasting to a whole new level for Kamala.

Kamala’s thoughts were interrupted upon hearing her name and looked up to Aamir and her Naani entering the station. Her brother was using crutches though she had heard he was doing well in his recovery overall.

Kamala did not need much coaching for this part, though she did make herself hesitantly get up to keep up the illusion of being scared to face her family. Technically true, she was frightened of finally talking with Aamir about that night when Venom attacked, but her Naani had assured her that Aamir would remain civil.

“Its alight beta, don’t be scared,” Her Naani assured Kamala, who finally rushed forward and embraced them while a familiar plump dark-skinned officer approached them.

“Given all that has happened and that she did come back on her own, we will just have you sign some final bit of paperwork and we can let you three go home. Behave yourself, young lady, lots of eyes will be on you for a while,” The officer told the family, giving Kamala the warning at the end. She knew it was coming, given how Natasha and the SHIELD led her through several scenarios, some ranging from child services to getting hounded by reporters. The good news was Tony was already moving to ‘get in contact’ with them as a way to give Ms. Marvel some peace of mind that the family she had failed to help was now getting it.

‘If it did not put Peter’s secret at risk, I might have considered going public about my other identity to simplify this whole mess,’’ Kamala thought as she meekly nodded to the officer who had been around for many of her escapades as Ms. Marvel

As the family of three then got into a waiting taxi, as their Naani could not drive in America and Aamir was not comfortable driving just yet even though he could if needed.

“You should have a shower when we get home, beta. Our guests would understand, but I rather you be clean again!” her Naani teased in Urdu, so to speak freely in the cab, while her brother rolled his eyes.

“Guests? Who would visit us to…they could not have waited until I came by tomorrow?” Kamala asked in a confused tone using the same language, realizing it must have been at least some of the Avengers. Why they were in Jersey on Christmas, in a home that particularly did not celebrate said holiday confused her.

“Maybe they want you to feel welcome on your first day back beta?” her Naani asked, though she seemed to know more than she let on, leaving Kamala in the dark as they got home.

Upon entering the house, the familiar smell of turkey was in the air, which only added to Kamala's confusion, but her grandmother reminded her to shower. Kamala did admit she wanted badly after going through all the prep work SHIELD had done.

Upon entering the bathroom, she found even a change of clothes waiting for her, the blue t-shirt modeled after her burkini plus a pair of red sweatpants, making Kamala smile at whoever’s idea it was to help her truly feel at home.

Kamala quickly washed the grime from her hair and body, becoming presentable again and then changed into the clothes provided. She could see who of the Avengers had come to welcome her home to find Peter and Steve waiting in the living room on the couch while her brother sat in a nearby chair.

“High Ms. Khan, I’m looking for my girlfriend. Have you seen her?” Peter joked, only to get a playful glare from Kamala, who sat next to him and Steve on the couch. Kamala was still unsure why they were not home with their families until Kamala noticed Peter’s aunt was in the kitchen with her Naani and remembered for Steve the Avengers were the only family he had left.

“Your girlfriend is going punch you if you not careful…you don’t know how much I missed you guys and the rest of the team. Not sure how I would have pulled through if Nat had not been with me,” Kamala said as she gave each a hug, though she raised her eyebrow as her brother slight disapproval at the word girlfriend.

“Aamir, it’s been a month. Have you not gotten over that bit of news? Compared to finding out about my dual life, this should have been easy!” Kamala exclaimed in mild annoyance. Her only response was, ‘It’s not proper!’ but got swatted over the head with a wooden spoon by their Naani.

“That enough Aamir, we are here to welcome Kamala home, not judge her!” the elderly woman scolded before looking at the two teens and asked them to set the table since dinner would ready soon.

As the teens did so, Kamala took the chance to ask Peter, “So…are we somehow celebrating Christmas or hoping to have a turkey dinner without a superhero VS super villain-themed wrestling match?”

Those who overheard this gave out a small laugh, though Aamir went pale and began praying. At the same time, Peter answered, “It's of the result of my aunt, your Naani and Cap finding a way to welcome you home while letting those who did normally celebrate the holidays still do so. We figured making a meal without any of the traditions should be a nice balance since it was no issue at Thanksgiving.”

What Peter did not say, mainly under the threat of getting on the wrong side of Captain America, was a new tradition starting tomorrow at Avengers Tower because of Kamala’s faith but still wanting to include her. Though they understood it was just a simple matter of doing it under nonreligious intents. All agreed for the first year of her being with the team; the Avengers wanted to hold it one day later and let her focus on being her Naani and brother. Peter, his Aunt, and Steve were at the older woman’s request due to Kamala’s grandmother wanting to finish one bit of business that meant for Thanksgiving. However, the former was more of a supportive role, while the latter was the crucial part.

As the pair finished though, Kamala did a chair count and found one more place setting than needed and had the teenager ask, “Naani…are we expecting someone else?”

“Look up beta,’ the woman answered without looking up as she put the turkey down, confusing Kamala as she did so and saw a familiar green pointed leaf plan with red barriers being held over her head by Natasha, who had an evil smirk on her face.

“Nat! Did you just arrive…wait why are you holding...oh god no!” Kamala started to say, happy to see her, though then realized what the plant was mistletoe!

Kamala barely had time to look in Peter’s direction when he kissed her on the lips while Aamir called out for the pair to stop, but Kamala was so dazed by the sudden action. Part of her raged at this little trick, but at the same time had to admit she had been waiting for the moment the two ‘sealed the deal’ upon becoming a couple. They even came close when they first confessed to each other about their feelings, but a particular team of villains interrupted them.

As the two finally parted, Peter said, “Welcome home, Kamala and happy holiday…now excuse me while I run away from your brother!”

After saying that, the young man leaped onto the ceiling while the sound of crutches came thundering up and demanded for Peter to come back and die like a man! Meanwhile, Kamala was shooting Natasha a mild death glare and say, “I’m pretty sure we would have done that on our own eventually!”

“You were taking too long, plus I’m getting back at you for the ‘punishment’…and no, I have protection from the second round of that thanks to Steve,” the super spy stated smugly while Kamala now glared at the war veteran who just smirked.

Kamala would’ve said something, but a wooden spoon swat to the head stopped her while her Naani gave the order to bring out the rest of the food.

As the ‘family’ ate, Kamala had to control her pace. There had been warnings to avoid overeating after what she had been through over the last month. Natasha was here just for that precaution. Her job as Kamala’s ‘coach’ was not over until they knew she recovered from the controlled starvation. With Kamala’s healing factor and the fact it was done by SHIELD using a well-thought-out plan, it would be simple enough over a couple of weeks of eating healthy in controlled portions, but they still wanted to make sure the young girl stayed safe.

Of course, this did not stop Kamala from enjoying the fact she could eat, finally on the way back to doing it normally again. The last couple of days before her ‘return’ was SHIELD giving her IVs of well-balanced nutrients to start lessening the ‘shock’ but having real food was great!

“So Kamala…what are your plans now that your back?” Aamir asked, a bit calmer even it had been under the threat of having two angry women (his Naani and May) telling him to back down after 5 minutes of chasing after Peter. The latter easily kept out of reach thanks to Aamir still needing crutches and the fact the teen hero stayed on the ceiling while ‘running’ away.

“Well… I figured I needed to stop by the tower tomorrow to get my things and talk with everyone about what schedule I need to have for the intern program. The Ms. Marvel-related stuff probably still needs to wait until my body’s recovered. Plus, see if she is clear to return to Jersey,” Kamala replied as she moved for seconds but stopped at Natasha's warning.

“Well, your right about waiting before doing anything as Ms. Marvel, but we already have something in mind for your return. One that should be a good test to see how both the police and the public will react,” Steve suggested, getting a confused look from Kamala that left her so focused on him that she did not see the satisfied smile on Natasha’s face.

The super spy used the information Clint and Tony had gathered over the month to have as much evidence on the DA as possible. He had been getting bribes from Norman Osborn to build an anti-Ms. Marvel campaign, but there was more to it than that.

The DA was also in the pocket of another group who wanted Ms. Marvel gone, a not-so-small enemy of many heroes, HYDRA. In the group, a faction was trying a new method of taking over the country by making it look like a redevelopment plan that would slowly take over Jersey. If the plan worked, they would probably repeat the processes in other cities.

The plan seemed a bit cartoonish for the terrorist group, but it was a smaller faction, not a Red Skull level operation. However, it was still HYDRA, and no way the Avengers would leave them to their own devices and it was perfect for interns to handle.

“What did you guys have in…” Kamala started to ask but was stopped by her Naani coughing in a way meant to get attention. Her expression was ‘there will be no talk of work,’ which stopped Kamala from asking further.

Dessert got served after this, which made both Peter and Kamala look at the front door as if daring to have it to get a knock or the doorbell rung. Making the two older heroes laugh, Aamir began praying again and Kamala’s Naani shook her head at the silliness.

“I think you two can relax; not every peaceful moment will be interrupted. Not sure how all young heroes seem to get that in their heads,” Steve commented as he took of bite pumpkin pie, getting glares from the two teens.

“Maybe you just that desensitized after doing this for years, but I have had every worse possible moment ruined by a crime or villain attack!” Peter counter-argued, the Captain just shrugging this off.

“Don’t forget Pete; he does this full time while we still got lives outside the hero thing. He does not have anything important to be interrupted from!” Kamala added only to get a raised eyebrow from her mentor as if asking if that was the best she could come up with.

“Give the rookies a break Steve. They will learn good things do happen, speaking of which…” Natasha commented, getting a mild glare from Steve since Natasha had just hinted something he wanted to do after he had his pie…even if it already delayed by a month.

Kamala got confused as her Naani left the room to get something from the kitchen while Steven got up and came over to Kamala, who was getting flashbacks to Thanksgiving. At least this time, she was more prepared and had already taken the first steps to leave the tower, so she was not on the verge of freaking out.

‘Here it comes…” Kamala thought as she tried to keep a strong front since her mentor had come to Jersey to help her feel welcome again in her own home.

“Kamala, your grandmother and I have been talking and knew that ideally, she would be here for you until your old enough to you look after yourself. But we thought it best not to take chances and have something we hope will be more certain and been working out something that should help,” Steve explained, while her Naani returned with a folder and placed it in front of Kamala, who was growing confused.

‘What is going on? Is this a different conversation than the one planned for the…’ Kamala started to think until her Naani snapped her out of her thought by saying something that completely stunned the young heroine.

“So Mr. Rodgers and I agreed that in a legal sense, he would be your guardian if you would allow it,” Her Naani added, opening the folder and placing a pen down in front of Kamala.

“Wait…your adopting…” Kamala started to say but stopped when Steve shook his with a gentle smile and explained further.

“Legally, I will be, but on a personal level, I see this as me just expanding my role as your teacher. Despite being in good health, your grandmother is still at an age where the unexpected could still happen, while I should still have the advantage of being ‘younger,’ so to speak. We want to be sure some can fill in as your legal guardian until you finish reaching adulthood.” Steve explained.

“This form is for you to agree to the ‘adoption’ plus the other forms that are part of the intern program for becoming a resident rather than living away from the tower. You do still need to ‘move’ but only to the floor assigned to the interns. Since the intern team is growing, we figured it would better if you kids had some space to yourselves plus allow full Avengers our own for the more secure items and projects. However, you and Spider-Man will still have limited access as the ones in charge of keeping the others in line,” Steve added, while Natasha also spoke up on the matter.

“We will be having regular meetings with you since, if you agree, we want to make sure things are running smoothly down there. I say maybe around dinner unless we are on missions,” Natasha commented, getting a nod from Steve while Kamala started to tear up at this news. She was not going to get kicked out. They had been planning on letting her stay if she wanted!

“I…and you both are okay with this?” Kamala asked, her tears still flow at the joy but still feeling a bit scared of what her remaining family might think of this.

Her Naani just smiled at her, obviously being alright with it given how she had been discussing it was the man who would take guardianship of Kamala, so she looked to Aamir to give his thoughts on the matter.

“I…I was upset when I first heard about this after you got ‘arrested’…but Naani did make it clear I was in no position to be a provider should the worst-case scenario happens. I’m still in recovery and after that, I need to start looking for a job. Mr. Rodgers can support you and has been doing it for months alongside the other Avengers, so I can’t argue they are more fit for the role. I’m still far from being able to fill that role, even if they encourage a life I wish you would not live,” Aamir explained, looking a bit ashamed at admitting all this, but his words reminded Kamala of something her parents said in her dream.

“They gave Steve their blessing for what he was going to do…” Kamala whispered, confusing Aamir, May, and Peter, but the three other adults had an idea what she was talking about and so smiling as she shot up from her chair and ran upstairs to her parents’ room.

Kamala checked and found a false bottom like her Abu had told her about when going to the nightstand. Inside were several documents, one being what she vaguely understand through the legal-speak was a will.

“It was them…there was so much I could have said but thought…” Kamala said through tears that were a mix of joy and pain but stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Steve was there along with Natasha and her Naani.

“I’m sure they knew solider,” Steve assured her gently, before gently taking the documents and handing them to the elderly woman who knew it would help in setting up the final plans of setting up the official reading.

Kamala knew her teacher was right and wiped the tears away and said, “I think I have some papers to sign…and thanks Cap, for everything.”

-

The next day, Kamala returned to the tower to find it seemed to be repaired from the carnage caused by the interns’ battles with Exile and Venom. How Toy pulled that off defied what Kamala knew of construction, seeing that the tower was a freaking skyscraper, so it was not exactly a few floors that needed repairs, given Exile went monster on the top floor and crashed to the lobby!

“Cap, I got to ask, does Tony mess with the laws of physics to repair this place or some other trick to it? No way just throwing money at it fixed the whole building a month,” Kamala asked, getting smirks from Natasha and Steve as they got out of the car they had used to arrive at the Khans the previous night. They had left when Steve usually began their regular training to avoid attracting the neighbors' attention and people wondering why two Avengers were there.

Steve had come with Peter and May to avoid that problem. He had come in civilian clothes and made sure to have a hat and sunglasses on when getting out of the car to avoid getting recognized. Natasha brought the car plus used a holo disguise look brown and have dark hair to be mistaken for maybe a friend or relative of the family.

If anyone asked, the story was the Parkers were the ones to convince Kamala to go home got invited for a meal as thanks. The unknown woman would be explained as a relative from Karachi to check on the family's eldest member.

“Tony has had lots of practice repairing the tower Kamala, this not the first major attack to hit our home after all. The man pretty much used it as an excuse to install additional defenses since your bottleneck idea might be a good option should the interns need to defend the tower again, and we are away on a mission,” Steve explained. At the same time, Natasha and Peter grabbed Kamala’s bags.

Kamala was instructed to take half the remaining clothes she kept there since the bulk of her time would now be at the tower, plus give her something other than superhero-themed outfits. Schooling would probably remain online based for the time being though once they knew enough of any news uproar of her return caused, Kamala would likely transfer to Midtown High.

If things went well with Ms. Marvel's return, learning to use skycycles or Lockjaw would allow Kamala to get back and forth between Jersey and the tower when she had time for patrols. Something that would have more strict routes and timetables given she had duties at Avengers Tower as what officially referred to as ‘Head Intern’ though since she and Peter were handling leadership, they could at least split up the work to ease the other’s burden.

“Don’t think about it too much…I gave up after going through enough pain killers to bring down Amadeus from all the headaches,” Peter commented dryly, getting eye rolls from the two adults while Kamala just giggled.

Upon arriving at the top floor though, Kamala was lead to the front room instead of her former room to see the rest of the team waiting for them with a banner saying ‘Welcome Home Ms. Marvel’ and a large pile presents in the middle of the floor.

“Since it’s Boxing Day, I think we can say it’s safe for everyone to exchange gifts!” Tony commented while Kamala smiled at this. They were playing it safe, though it’s not the first time someone had given her a gift during the holidays. Bruno had done it before, though it would be a simple card with a gift card or maybe poster or another form of hero merchandise. She often got him something small out of mutual respect for the spirit of giving that holiday represented rather than the Christian parts she knew his family practiced.

“Wish I had been able to get you guys something,” Kamala replied, a bit embarrassed by her lack of having not even cards ready for them.

“It’s your first year, Stretch and we caught you off guard on purpose. We can have you be a part of the draw next year. This year is more of welcome to the family plus getting you outfitted for your new role since your gifts are ‘practical’ over fun,” Tony commented as he waved of Kamala’s worries and moved a box over her as she sat down.

Kamala was confused at this until she opened the box to find a new costume. A note explained the lightning bolt was like the white spider on Peter’s ‘Advance Suite’ and made of carbon fiber. The blue part’s fabric being made of the graphene/silk weave; this meant that the part covering her upper body was armor-like without giving up mobility. The red bodysuit would help protect her from her weakness to electricity and some resistance to heat and cold. The new domino mask had clear lenses that did what ‘Classified’s’ mask did, give her night vision and allowed those at the tower to see what she saw. The latter feature made clear it was to make sure there was no false finger-pointing at her as she got back into the life of a superhero.

“Never thought I would be glad for the return of that feature!” Kamala commented as everyone got a gift and unwrapped it. Though Kamala was a bit surprised that, unlike the others, she got a second gift while everyone else must have been in the ‘draw’ Tony mentioned got only one. She assumed it was a sort of ‘secret Santa’ idea.

“That is from us interns; I’m forbidden from getting one for you personally, so I had to team up with Amadeus and Riri,” Peter called out, glaring at the adults who said being her boyfriend did not make him exempt from one gift rule. The intern gift was a loophole because everyone agreed that all of the coming chaos for all those involved once new team members got added, Kamala deserved an extra gift.

Inside the box was a jacket with red sleeves, blue on the rest, and a lightning bolt on the back with a note saying it was her ‘in house uniform,’ taking Kamala a moment to remember the blue t-shirt with a lightning bolt on it, plus the red sweatpants.

‘It seems everything from that phase of Ms. Marvel’s life is taking a back seat to this new one,’ Kamala thought sadly, thinking of the uniform she wore during the battle with the Venom. It was still in good shape, but besides the new scarf, which was also her parents’ final gift, it needed to be protected like the old bracelet. It was time to start fresh since she would never be the Ms. Marvel she had been before all this began, so time to let that one rest and come back better than before.

After the group cleaned up the mess, Kamala, Steve, Natasha, and Peter gathered up her old room’s belongings and headed down one floor down to where the interns would be calling home.

Kamala’s new room had the same design as the old one, so she could have her mask off without fear of a lucky drone catching her at the wrong time. The most significant change was she had shelves now that the Avengers knew what the girl had as belongings. Plus, to minimize any accusation of someone saying another intern was going rooms uninvited, card readers were on each door.

“I know you probably want to take time to put everything back up, but we are hoping perhaps the three of us could sit down and go over some of the possible members we wanted to send invitations to for the program. Natasha has some final prep work for the mission we want to do in a week or two that we mentioned,” Steve said as he put a box down along with the others, while Kamala had gone into the bathroom to change into the now dubbed in house uniform.

“Is the mission that big we need the help?” Kamala asked, poking her head from the bathroom and looking worried since they still had not told her what the mission was.

“No, we want to leave that to you four and if you need back up, we will personally be providing that. The list is for what you would call the ‘second mission’ since many of the thugs that were gathering to fight alongside the Green Goblin’s forces were said to have been part of ‘The Big Man’s,” Steve explained, making both teens go stiff.

“Please tell me with so we can drag him out of the building kicking and screaming because trust me, he strong enough to pin me to the ground with just his foot…makes me glad we have Amadeus,” Peter asked, rubbing his chest at her remembering how the man stomped down him so to make him listen to the ‘facts of life.’

“Not until we have legal ground solider, we have some ideas that make things difficult for him though, and you are going need more bodies for it!”

-

One week later, at the Jersey docks around 10 pm:

“So this is what Mr. Worthy and Dr. Faustus want back at Hope Yards?” one of several men asked as they checked the hidden compartments of some creates for a strange purple fluid before getting an acknowledgment from one of the others who already on the phone with their bosses.

“Mr. Worthy, we got the delivery you asked about and are getting ready to head back to start the bottling process of bottling it for the free samples in tomorrow’s operations. We also already got several businesses scared out of the first redevelopment zone and should…” the man said into the phone when he heard a spiriting sound and looked back to see the man who had called over now gone.

“Just a sec, Mr. Worthy,” the henchman said before putting the phone away and called out, “Anyone see where the new guy went?”

Just as the question was asked, the same sound was heard and many others looked around to see another one of their own missing. None of them were from New York, so it did not click what was happening until two round white balls with blinking lights landing in the middle of the group and went off in a burst of webbing that pinned many to the ground, walls, or creates.

“What the? I thought the spider worked on the other said of the river!” one of the still free men called out before the red and blue spider-themed hero landed in front of the man and said, “Had a date with the only one who can rock the red and blue as well as I can, now please just surrender so I can get back to it.”

The henchman’s only response was to punch Spider-Man, who simply caught it judo style and tossed him over the shoulder onto the ground, ending the fight with quick triple use of standard web shots.

“Next!” Spider-Man challenged, the remaining targets all stupidly charging the man who already took out a dozen other in less than a minute.

-

“What is going on over? Answer me!” a slender man in a blue suit and yellow tie and slick back brown hair yelled into the phone, while and broad shoulder man in a purple suit and had red had and beard watched on.

“Trouble with the shipment, I take it?” Dr. Faustus asked, the man only mildly worried since it must be something minor since Jersey’s only superhero was still faraway and last they heard had been taken by SHIELD.

“I’m not sure, no one answering! Something about a Spi…oh please don’t let it be him!” Chuck Worthy started to say, finally realizing what that one word could mean and hung up the phone.

“We might want to put the Jersey operation on hold until we know more. If Spider-Man is sticking his nose into this, the Hope Yards redevelopment project could get discovered before we can start getting the mind control nanotech into circulation!” Chuck suggested to Dr. Faustus, but a new voice called out before the other man could respond.

“Mind control, forcing out businesses, bribing a DA to make it impossible for me to come home…man, you guys have been busy!” the voice of Ms. Marvel echo through the warehouse, making both men’s blood run cold.

“How…how are you here? SHIELD arrested you!” Chuck Worthy demanded, trying to figure out what was going on alongside Dr. Faustus, who both had planned on no costume crime fighters interfering with their plans. The moment Ms. Marvel had been caught nearly killing Shocker, they had ordered their very well-paid mole in the district attorney's office to put pressure to have her jailed! The Avengers had simplified matters by taking her out of the city entirely!

“Yet one of my bosses made it clear it was a formality. SHIELD just wanted to properly go poking around my head to make sure I was alright after that fight with the alien ooze that took over Harry Osborn and found my treatments over the last few months had gone well! Too bad for that means we are here to clean up any messes people made while I was away!” Ms. Marvel’s voice replied the word ‘we,’ causing the blood in her opponents’ veins to run cold.

This was the signal for Amadeus to bust through the front door while Iron Heart did the same through the roof, Ms. Marvel hitching a ride down from her place in the shadows of the rafters.

“So HYDRA…care do what my right hand probably asked your goons and surrender or did you want to do this the hard way? We got both ends of the conversation recorded thanks to my new mask’s lenses and Spidey’s own, so we got plenty of evidence to shut your operation down!”

Neither man wanted to go to prison though, but when you have polymorph, a well-armed inventor and a mini Hulk, neither man lasted long when trying to fight or run.

-

A short while later, the police arrived with Spider-Man hitching a ride on the roof of one. Several officers got tense upon seeing Ms. Marvel, which made said heroine slump in defeat as Spider-Man gave her a knowing look; his smirk felt through the mask.

“Yeah yeah, I owe you 50 chocolate kisses…you guys could not have celebrated so that he would owe me 20 full-size candy bars of my choice?” Ms. Marvel said dejectedly, making the officers look at the boy in confusion since that seemed like an uneven bet.

“Oh, you guys did not hear the whole bet. She owes me 50 chocolate kisses delivered right to my mouth by her…though to be fair; I’ll let her choose between chocolate or caramel sauce!” Spider-Man commented as he crossed his arms in triumph, now confusing Ms. Marvel while everyone snickered at hearing this.

“Why would there be a need any sau…oh god, are you kidding me…” Ms. Marvel asked, her face going red and her mouth now slacked jawed as she realized what Spider-Man win entailed.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel laughed her ass off at her terminal at the tower as Captain America had come in to ask how the operation was going. The veteran of the second world war was very confused.

“What happened?” the Captain asked, with Carol only saying Peter had proven how much of genius he was while both watched what was happening on the screen through Ms. Marvel’s lenses.

As the plump dark-skinned officer approached Ms. Marvel and asked, “So you are doing better kid, or this just the Avengers sending their team of trainees to handle a job?”

After a moment of Ms. Marvel looking a bit nervous, she finally said, “The Avengers are hoping this would let us see if I was…allowed to come back. I’m doing better…no clue if I’ll ever be ‘alright’ with what happened, but I’m hoping I can handle it now.”

After yet another moment of silence, the officer nodded and smiled gently at the young heroine before saying, “Take it slowly kid, you have been through a lot and even though I’m pretty sure you got the public behind you, you should not rush this. Let anyone who still on the fence or on the anti-Ms. Marvel team get used to our big gun being back.”

With a salute that brought back memories of police officers giving her a supportive send-off when Iron Man and Cap came for her, the officers moved to take the two men and Ms. Marvel breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, the hard part is over with now for the frustrating part…unless you want to focus on paying up first,” Spider-Man commented, just before his girlfriend punched him in the arm.

“Work first, then you can have your ‘winnings,’’” Kamala stated with glare, both jumping when they heard Captain America asked ‘what winnings?’ over the comm.

Both teens squeaked a ‘nothing!’ and called Lockjaw for a pickup while Iron Heart and Amadeus fought the urge to laugh.

-

The ‘frustrating’ part was the two going over the files of several new candidates they should consider for the program. Spider-Man had already suggested a trio of heroes he had met while Kamala was with SHIELD.

One was a former mercenary of the underworld going by the name Prowler who had been hired to take Spider-Man out to pay off a debt and save his brother but instead ended up teaming up with Spider-Man to save the sibling.

The other two were a duo called Cloak and Dagger. These two teens had been out for revenge against the man that put them through dangerous experiments that gave them their powers. Still, Spider-Man stopped them and convinced both to turn themselves in while he worked with the Avengers, to hopefully do what they had done for Kamala and perhaps worked as interns to prove they could do good with their abilities.

“You basically recruited your enemies…interesting tactic, Spidey!” Kamala teased, though going over the skills the trio had it brought to the table: tech, teleportation and various light-based attacks. True, Prowler was just the muscle and his brother was the brains behind the tech but Prowler also brought his skills and knowledge of the underworld.

“Well, it did let me see their skills first hand and compare them to what I could do, so I thought they would be my choices over going by what is on paper. Any idea on who you would suggest?” Peter asked, the pair going over the files in the Avengers' meeting room since they wanted the files to stay on the HQ’s floor for a little extra security.

“I thought that Dante boy Nat had me talk to during the missing Inhuman case, he is still trying to get a handle on his powers, but someone like that would be nice to have. My second pick is that other Spider-Man you have been coaching. I would have thought he would be one of your choices to be honest,” Kamala answered, though unsure who could be a possible third.

“Well…confusion for one, he has not officially called himself Spider-Man; he just got called the ‘second Spider-Man’ by the media…you don’t want to know how much that has angered Jameson; having two ‘menaces’ swinging around! The second part is I already had the other three. It felt wrong to have four suggestions lined up before you even had a chance to go over the files,” Peter explained, just as Steve entered the room with a new folder.

“How goes the selection process you two? I trust you are actually working and not getting Peter’s ‘payment’ out of the way?” Steve asked, giving the boy a look that warned him to be careful about using that trick in the future.

Both easily guessed he meant the 50 chocolate ‘kisses’ which made Kamala blush while Peter said, “She refuses to pay up until work is done, got my three already and she has two.”

Knowing who Peter had selected, Steve nodded at this but asked Kamala on her two and seemed to be deep in thought once she mentioned their names.

“Well…both are pretty new to their powers, but of those two, I say this other ‘Spider-Man’ is more ready the Dante. Dante is still getting over his fear of his powers, while your other choice is already looking after Brooklyn. Perhaps I got two suggestions you want to consider?” Steve offered, making Kamala though looked a bit discouraged at one of her options not possibly being ready but still eager to hear about Cap’s ideas.

Steve opened the folder and took out two profiles, one of a boy in a white, blue and red suit with a red visor with the code name Patriot at the top and the second being a girl called Kate Bishop.

“One is a SHIELD trainee I had an eye one, even gave him pointers every so often. Fury even recommended him, unsure if it’s a way to further good relations or wants some ‘eyes’ on this program. But Patriot would give you guys a skill-based fighter. The second is someone Clint has been helping out when he found her emulating his skill set,” Steve said as he gestured the files, being the first non-powered options that seemed promising to the teens.

“Well, we have been a bit power or tech-heavy, so having some actual fighters might be a good idea,” Peter admitted, making Kamala wish she had thought that. They had focused on bringing interesting abilities to the table; they overlooked some old fashion skill options.

“Easy there soldiers, these are just suggestions and building the program right now is about building its number. We can worry about ‘balance’ once you guys start training together,” Steve assured both teens, not wanting them to overthink what he brought up.

“Well is not a bad idea anyway, Cap…could we keep Dante on a consideration list though? Still think he might make a good candidate once he has a little more confidence plus who knows, maybe some of our options might not want to stay in the program,” Kamala suggested, getting a smile Steve who nodded at this.

“Never hurts to keep promising heroes in mind. If anything, I would recommend having a few options on hand as possible interns leave or we want to expand again. Now let’s see if we can gather up those first four options. At the same time, you think over if you want one or both the two I suggested, no point rushing the decisions,” Steven told the teens, thinking gathering others first would give Kamala and Peter a break and allow for clearer heads.

-

A week later, Tombstone returned to his office from a meeting when familiar red and blue hero jumped down from the ceiling, causing his two bodyguards to pull out their guns but got stopped by Spider-Man firing a web line at each and pulls the weapons from their grasp.

“Wow, I knew things might be tense after my last visit, but this is just silly. I just came to ask for a favor and then I’ll leave,” Spider-Man commented as he wrapped the weapons up in a web ball and tossed it over his shoulder while Tombstone gestured for his bodyguards to stand down.

“And what kind of favor would you need of me? Doubt its money given your new connections,” Tombstone asked wearily, knowing he needed to be careful what he said given the boy could be transmitting this conversation to Stark.

“Well, a man like you must be a target people like the ‘Big Man,’ but that means you also can give him a message for me…we are ready for his unconditional surrender!” Spider-Man stated with arms crossed across his chest, getting a raised eyebrow from Tombstone at the word ‘we’ until a new voice jumped into the conversation from behind Tombstone’s group.

“Yeah, we did not like him sending goons to back the Green Goblin up. So once I got back from SHIELD’s final bit of rehabilitation, we did a little recruiting…case and point,” Ms. Marvel stated with a smirk as her wrist communicator in the new version of her bracelet went off and she activated the holo screen.

“Ms. Marvel here; how goes the operation?” Ms. Marvel asked with a tone of authority she was still getting used to, but for the sake of appearances, she faked looking like she was comfortable in her new role leading the team of teenagers.

“Patriot reporting in, the second Spider-Man and I hit the warehouse and confiscated the weapons rumored to be when Silvermane gets out of prison,” One of four sections of the screen replied, making Tombstone narrow his eyes at hearing this.

“Iron Heart and Amadeus reporting in, we nabbed the other two enforcers that worked with Shocker in the past. We caught them red-handed going over a bank heist plan for when Shocker gets out of jail. Tony said he would talk to some people and see if he can extend Shocker’s sentence.” Iron Heart answered, Tombstone’s teeth clenching at the loss of both two main assets plus the foiling of his plans to fill his ‘war chest’ for Silvermane’s return.

“Prowler and Bishop team here, we are heading to back up Cloak and Dagger on goon nabbing once we stop the last ones in our sector.” Prowler answered, Ms. Marvel noting the Prowler and Bishop team were ahead of schedule.

“Dagger here, don’t bother Prowler we got this, better you head top the next sector and we can all meet up Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man in their assigned areas,” the blonde replied, making it clear both teams must have had an easier time than expected.

“Good to hear guys, Spidey and I are heading out, our business with Mr. Lincoln done and we should be meeting up with Prowler/Bishop and Cloak/Dagger teams in an hour,” Ms. Marvel told her teammates, ending the call and looking to her boyfriend as a signal for him to have his fun.

“Well, my boss has spoken, so time for us to go, do tell the Big Man our message if you find a way to it get to him. I’m pretty sure if I was able to scare crooks off the streets before, wonder what will happen now I got a team backing me up?” Spider-Man stated as he and Ms. Marvel headed for the window and the petite girl wrapped her arms around Spider-Man’s neck while he web swung them away.

Tombstone meanwhile with keeping his rage in check, knowing it could only be to their advantage. The timing of Spider-Man’s ‘team’ was happening alongside the return of Silvermane; he had a possible gang war on his hands and now a small army of teenage heroes going after his operations.

‘Trying to distract him with new villains would not be ideal now…for the time being, I better focus on getting my forces to find ways to keep business going rather than taking the fight to the boy and hope Silvermane will soon draw their attention for me.’ The crimelord thought as he ordered his guards away and headed for his desk.

-

A few hours later, the team of 10 teen heroes was in their version of the living room on the intern floor; they had a slightly bigger screen TV and the couch circler shaped, the group celebrating their first mission’s success.

“So what’s next boss? We keep hitting the Big Man’s operations like we did today or we got a new plan?” Amadeus asked as the group sat on the couch and enjoyed the coffee table's food and drinks in front of them.

Ms. Marvel smiled and just shook her head at being called ‘boss’ since it would take some getting used to as she answered, “We do what Spidey has been doing before he joined the program, do patrols and just hit the Big Man as his cronies do their thing. We will do it in teams of two like today though we will rotate who is with whom to find out which synch up well and whose skill sets don’t mesh yet. Cap thought that would help us figure out how best we can build as a team overall.”

“Which one?” Many of her teammates asked, seeing how their adviser was Captain Marvel, but their leader had a solid connection with Captain America.

“The cool one!” Ms. Marvel joked, getting an eye roll from most of her teammates, though her blood ran cold when she heard a very familiar voice speak up.

“Once again, which one are you referring to soldier?” Steve asked, his tone almost teasing as Ms. Marvel turned around to see him, Carol, Tony, Hulk, Thor, and Clint at the interns' living room entrance. Most were there for the soon to come gaming session as part of the celebration.

The young heroine looked to her teammates for help, knowing that this one had no balcony to make a getaway and the adults blocked the only exit, unlike the room above.

“Sorry boss, you got yourself into this one,” Amadeus stated, getting nods of agreement from others, though at least her boyfriend heisted.

“Please help me Spidey!” Ms. Marvel squeaked, but before he could even think of answering her, Ms. Marvel felt a hand on each shoulder.

“There is no escape kiddo, who is the cool Captain?” the voice of Carol Danvers asked evilly, the two captains enjoying this.

“Disembiggen!” Ms. Marvel called out, trying to escape, though as she shrank, all that did was get the hand on either shoulder to move to grab the girl, Steve being the quicker of the pair and holding Ms. Marvel up by the back of her shirt and bring action figure size teenager to his face.

“I believe Danvers said there was no escape young lady, now answer the question,” Steve stated firmly, though his expression still clearly showed he was enjoying putting his student on the spot.

“There is no cool captain! It was just supposed to be a joke!” Ms. Marvel called out in desperation, though this just made both adults smirk as she wanted into a different minefield.

“So neither of us is cool then? That hurts…I thought I was your idol!” With a fake look of hurt on her face, Carol said, getting the desire reaction making the tiny teen try to sputter out words that would try and fix the situation, but her brain was stuck in confusion and panic to produce anything coherent.

“Alright, that’s enough of torturing my girlfriend!” Spider-Man stated as he fired a web line at Ms. Marvel and yanked her away from Steve, said girl returning to normal size as he sat her down back next to him. Meanwhile, Thor lightly tapped Carol on the head with Mjolnir enough to give a pang of pain and Hulk swatted Steve in the back of the head, both Heavy hitters helping to put an end to the teasing.

“You guys could not have done that sooner?” Ms. Marvel sulked, wrapping her arms around Spider-Man while glaring at Hulk and Thor.

“One must be careful with their words, friend Marvel,” Thor stated as he and Hulk returned to set up their laptops while their ‘victims’ playfully glared at getting swatted upside the head.

“Cheer up Stretch; the fun is about to begin!” Tony pointed out, reminding one person was not part of the festivities. That would not do!

-

Back upstairs in the Avengers living room, Natasha enjoying the peace and quiet that came with no silly parties or games dominating the room. The interns earned it, but the super spy, for one, needed a break from Warframe and the ‘squad’ had pretty much convinced the game would build comradery.

‘The only thing that stupid game will do is make them waste time. At least now the four children in men's bodies will be down there playing from now on. Wonder why Steve went with them though? He never liked video games in general and I doubt he will want to be around those kids for long,’ Natasha wondered, though she went back to enjoying peace. Until suddenly, the room went into lockdown and the TV turned on, showing that evil game!

“Welcome to the Warframe channel! All Warframe, all the time!” Tony Stark's voice called out, though Natasha was more focused on demanding Jarvis to end the lockdown.

“For those who don’t know, Warframe the free to play slaughter-fest anyone can enjoy, even super spies who say they hate it! Join us Nat. You know you want to! We even left a laptop for you next to the TV for you to use!” The voice of Ms. Marvel added, making Natasha cry out she would get them for this!

“You two are really going to provoke her like that?” Steve’s voice asked, making Natasha hope for some help in all this madness!

“Oh, that is not provoking; the pun-ishment that is to come is part that will provoke her!” Spider-Man’s voice stated, making Natasha realize the full extent of this torture they had planned while Tony and the interns had her in here. They would all pay dearly for this!

For the next several hours, Natasha was forced to listen to the gamers make smartass comments and jokes while playing the game. However, except for Steve, the other adults needed to camp out on the intern floor for the night while Natasha tried to invade the area, only to be driven back by traps both Spider-Men had put in place, allowing most to sleep in peace. Emphasis on most.

-

Kamala stood outside the wall flames wearing the blue Ms. Marvel-themed t-shirt, red sweatpants and the jacket Peter, Amadeus and Riri gave her. The only thing missing was her mask; she did not need it here. The fire being the only thing that kept her other self from attacking her, even if it was just her bare hands.

“You probably thought you were rid of me? You’ll never rid of me! I’ll get out! You pay for everything you did to my family!” The other half of her screamed, wearing the beaten-up plain black t-shirt, grey sweatpants and the blue domino mask and still had the nullifier locked onto her left arm.

“You right; I’ll never be rid of you. Not until I do something I don’t have the strength to do yet…I might never be able to do if I’m being honest,” Kamala replied calmly, looking sadly at the other half of her that was still so full of rage.

“Yeah, you’ll never be able to beat me! We both knew that ever since you sent me here!” the other Kamala roared out but looked stunned when the original just shook her head and kept smiling sadly.

“No, fighting you was never the solution. Ammi and Abu proved that and hated that I was doing so, what I need to do it forgive myself…to forgive us both. Naani can say I’m forgiven all she wants, our parents could come back and say it, but that does not matter until I can do it for myself. I hope I can someday…for both our sakes,” Kamala said sadly as she then began walking away while her other self screamed out for her to come back and fight her.

-

Kamala opened her eyes to see she was in her new room on the interns' floor, her collection back up and organized as she liked it. She was truly home and the room reflected it…though it had been invaded while she was asleep, seeing how Natasha was sitting her in her computer chair and holding out the dream journal.

“Sounded less intense than the previous ones I witnessed…though you should probably still write it down for your next session,” Natasha instructed while Kamala took the object and started writing what happened down.

“So…am I first on the list or you have already gone after the others?” Kamala asked as she wrote, Natasha just smirking at the question.

“Oh, I have plans for Tony and Clint that I’ll do in my own time. Thor’s punishment needs some more planning and Hulk is…Hulk. The interns I have much easier ways of getting back at, but you little Ms. Head Intern get extra special attention!” Natasha stated with a grin, though she was surprised when Kamala held out her hands like she would be handcuffed.

“I just helped Pete declare war on the big man and we got a possible gang war to go along with it, pretty sure if I can’t survive whatever you got in mind then we are in big trouble,” Kamala replied, though she did still look nervous since she was unsure what Natasha was going to do.

“Good, get dressed and meet me in the training room in 10 minutes. I’m the one training you today!” Natasha replied with a grin. True, it was not as fun with Kamala semi willing to take the punishment, but the older heroine could not fault the girl for making the best of the situation.

At least now, was Ms. Marvel back, not fully healed yet, but she was also no longer shattered. And her new family would make sure she would never be again, no matter how many foes came their way!


End file.
